Well, at last I seem to have mastered the scythe and my daughter and myself are proceeding with our hay making, slowly. I say slowly because yes, the heat the last few days has been a factor but the smells of the clover, meadow sweet and chammomile are heavenly and need to be savoured. Plus we keep stopping to watch and miss chopping the bees and butterflies [such softies we are].

The lines are relatively staight and the piles of cut grass are neat and easily distinguishable unlike last year's attempt when we couldn't tell what was what! We have an acre to do, if we can manage it, our ponies will have the best winter feed ever. I would encourage anyone who's never tried scything to give it a go. It's not as fast as a tractor and so beating our unpredictable weather could be an issue but it's really very peaceful and theraputic. You also get a good chance to learn what your land is telling you about itself, if that makes sense to anyone.

Good luck to those of you haymaking, may the fine weather continue long enough for a good harvest.

Elaine

Because of the hot weather I have been leaving extra water out for our Jacob sheep. Today one of our lambs kicked over a bucket and managed to get the handle and bucket stuck between her fore and hind legs with the bucket sticking out from her flank at 90 degrees. This immediately panicked all the sheep who charged around the pasture being chased by a strange creature with a black protuberance. The sheep were so upset that they would not even follow me withsheep nuts into the pinfold. A long hot sweaty pursuit ensued until I finally caught the lamb and removed the bucket. I immediately removed the handles from the water bucket. My foolishness caused unintended stress to the flock. It seems funny now but it was a nightmare in the heat at midday.

Fred mcp