August was all about one thing round here - hay. Well, more specifically, scything, as hay itself is more of a by-product - my main aim is to reduce the fertility of this field (by cutting and removing the grass), and therefore eventually increase the biodiversity, ultimately restoring something like what would have been a traditional hay meadow habitat. Anyway, I started slightly later than I intended, as I had covid towards the end of July, and it took a couple of weeks to get back up and running. And I started in a different corner of the field this year, aiming for a diagonally upwards direction. So I started at the bottom left of the field, and slowly, an hour at a time, edged in rather curved lines, up the field. It was hard going though. Theoretically, it should have been easier than last year - heading diagonally upwards means you're depositing the cut hay slightly downhill to your right, rather than slightly uphill. I made a good attempt to peen the scythe, which should make it easier to scythe. That worked a little bit, and I did get quite a bit cut and removed, and stacked up in the shed. I was doing all this on my own though, and it proved to be too difficult to make wheelie bin bales like I did in previous years (with help), and so it's all been piled haphazardly in the back of an outbuilding. Not very scenic, and a bit of a nuisance, but we are all about practicalities here. I was still having a tough time scything though, and tried switching to my longer scythe blade. This lasted about five minutes, until I misjudged the length, and impaled a water butt, meaning I had to abandon the scything to rescue the precious water leaking rapidly into the field. The longer scythe blade was quickly abandoned after that, not least because what I'm trying to scythe isn't beautiful swishy meadow, but rather an assortment of clumpy, uneven grass. About this point, I sent the scythe blade to be professionally sharpened. I also decided to start again in a different corner of the field. This meant I'd be heading downhill, and therefore depositing the cut hay slightly uphill, which isn't ideal. However, the grass by this point had flopped over rather a lot, and general consensus seems to be that it's best to cut with the grass flopped over away from you, rather than towards you. Between this, and the newly sharpened scythe blade, things started moving an awful lot more quickly. This is where I started on 20th August. Ninety minutes later, I'd done the first row. And by the end of the following day, after eight hours of scything over the two days, I was starting to feel like I might actually get to the end of the field this year, for the first time ever. By the end of August, I'd done seven long rows, along with cutting and raking the bit I'd started with originally. Getting there. So, twenty four hours of scything in August, and while that doesn't sound that much, it was mostly achieved an hour or two at a time, after work, or in between weekend activities. You'll have to wait (not very long!) for September's update... In other news... We lost Bonny chicken, of course, which we are all very sad about. I'm so glad she had her final days hanging out in the hay field, rooting for critters. The apples were still looking good at the end of August, although nowhere near ready to pick. I'm afraid there's nothing much else to report from the homestead for August. All my spare energy went into scything, so there was no weeding, or any other garden activity, aside from the occasional bit of sitting on a bench. There was no painting of the kitchen - I wonder how many months I'm going to be saying that?
September's update soon (I hope...)
0 Comments
Needless to say, I did not get done as much as I optimistically planned at the end of my July post. Is the kitchen ceiling finished? No. Is the French drain dug? No. Did I scythe the entire hay field? No. Did I plant out the hazel tree? Also no. Still, the wheel of the year turns, and things happen sometimes with or without my involvement. Let's have a look through some photos, shall we? The veg patch I've largely ignored the veg patch this month except for a little light weeding, and yet we've still had a few harvests. It's not all been success, mind you. Caterpillars have set up home in the kale, the sweetcorn hasn't pollinated, the entire cucumber plant is smaller than my hand, and now the pea frame has blown over in the wind. Our one apple and one plum were lost to the high winds as well, so now the only remaining tree fruit is the damsons, which seem to be doing rather well (so far). Still, the veg garden overall still looks pretty good, even after I (unwisely) let the chickens in for a bit of a treat. I've harvested and dried some of that calendula, but haven't decided what to do with it yet. There are masses of seeds, so if you'd like some please do let me know and I'll send them out. While I had the dehydrator out, I also dried some oregano, which I always forget about because I didn't plant it, and it's half hidden under a bush. I must crawl under and get some more, and think about what else I can dry. Lavender maybe, although I spotted three jars of lavender I'd dried in our old house so I really should get on the case making lavender bags or something if I'm going to dry any more. Hay (or not) I had great plans for scything the entire meadow and making a giant pile of hay in August. Sadly, those plans were foiled, mostly by the weather, and partly by them being rather unrealistic in the first place. Still, some hay was made, and a lot of soggy, damp grass cuttings were made too. I've come to terms wit h the fact that the rest of what I've cut just isn't going to dry out, as the weather is too unstable. If I had a team of 15 able to rush out at the slightest hint of sunshine and turn it all over instantly, then it might, but I don't. So I've decided that the rest will be cut and used for mulch - my priority is removing it from the field as I'm trying to restore a more wildlife-friendly habitat (which is my priority, more so than making hay). The edible windbreak is benefiting from the first round of mulch. Not ideal, but then this little adventure of ours is all about trying out what's practical, not what's ideal, so here we are. And I'm certainly getting better with my scythe in the meantime. DIY Clearly I didn't finish the whole of the kitchen ceiling. I did make some progress though - I've started fitting battens to the joists and have put up one whole piece of insulation and plasterboard (which I now can't find a photograph of). We decided last week that it would be easier to paint the joists before we put up the plasterboard, so everything was put on hold while we made decisions about that. I'm pleased to say our chosen wood oil has now turned up, and I'm hoping to at the very least get that painted on in September.
So there we are. Harvesting, hay, and the teensiest bit of DIY. I'm not making any great plans for September - it's the busiest time of my work year and it's quite likely I won't get much done at all. When I do get chance though, I'll be out scything the field, or inside painting the kitchen ceiling. I'm not planning anything more dramatic than that... I last waffled on about scything a few weeks ago, and I'd had to stop as my scythe was cutting the dry grass, but not the green underneath, and it felt very inefficient. I've made lots of progress since then though. First of all, I bought a peening jig, and learned how to peen my scythe to make the edge properly sharp again. I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was amazed how much of a difference it made. Once the scythe was sharp, I could cut right down to the ground with ease, and scything became an enjoyable, meditative task rather than a chore. I also bought a holder for the sharpening stone to clip onto my belt - this has been revolutionary as I no longer have to prop it in a pot of water on a wall and walk back and forth all day. The sharp scythe and the stone holder made me quite efficient, and combined with a window of good weather, I got quite a bit of hay cut in a relatively short amount of time. Raking and turning isn't quite as much fun as scything, but it has to be done to dry the hay out properly. Eventually some of it was dry enough to make bales, which we did in the wheelie bin, same as last year. We made four, and stored them in the garage, and turned the rest of the hay one more time. Then our brief window of sunshine disappeared, and thunderstorms were forecast. There was no point making damp hay bales, so I decided to experiment with a hay rick, having read some interesting things here and here. The hay still wouldn't dry out properly, but I reasoned that most of it wouldn't get any wetter, and I could do this by myself, whereas bin bales takes a couple of people and is rather more labour intensive. I built it up in layers, stacking each one carefully at right angles to the previous layer, and was pretty pleased with it when it was finished as the sun was setting. Then the rain came... And then the strangest storm I've ever witnessed, no rain, no thunder, just lightning flashing constantly around the sky for several hours. We've had a fair bit more rain since then too. The hay stack is still standing, but looking somewhat slumped, and is now more of a hay sponge, having soaked up quite a bit of water. I'm going to leave it standing and gradually use it for mulch in the garden.
I've still got most of the field left to mow. I'm off work for a fortnight now, and the forecast is rain, rain and more rain. I'm hoping to get it cut between showers (the grass is easier to cut when it's wet), but it's unlikely to dry out. I think there's going to be quite a bit of hay mulch this year. |
Hello!Sit down and make yourself comfortable. I'm Jenni, and I write here about our new foray into country living, which includes growing food, knitting, baking, wandering around the fields, and seeing which local cafe serves the best cake. Categories
All
Archives
February 2024
|