........good neighbours, as Robert Frost so rightly said in 'Mending Wall'.
Whenever there is a slight lull in work on the farm, that is the time for a spot of fence or wall mending - a never ending job as you can imagine. There are so many ways in which fences and/or walls can be damaged. Cattle, sheep, winds, rabbits, water, show, humans to name but a few which spring to mind.
So today, when Tess and I went for our constitutional, I took a few photographs to show aspects of wall and fence mending - either places where repairs are needed of possible things which will damage fences any day now. So just enjoy the pictures and thank goodness that you don't have to do the mending!
Incidentally - I met our neighbouring farmer on the lane (it is his quad bike in the photo and - yes - he was off to mend a fence too). He told me that the barn owlets have flown and that last night he saw the three of them (mother and two babes) hunting the hedgeback at dusk. Wonderful.
With 500 acres and five road frontages as well as all the internal fences it is Herculean task. I do not envy you your stone walling, that is an art in itself. We too have a couple and sheep who love climbing them are the main culprits.
ReplyDeleteHow exciting about the Owlets!
ReplyDeleteDrystone walling is rocket science. The wind and rain has to get through gaps otherwise the wall will blow down. That's why it's stronger than a brick wall. You try building a brick wall on top of Pen Y Ghent and see how long it'd last up there in a gale. I wouldn't give it a week never mind a month.
ReplyDeleteLovely news about the Owls... in my area we have an Owl who sits on my roof top most of the year looking, I hope, for the pack-rats that are so destructive to eat !
ReplyDeleteNot so lovely news about all the stone walls repairing, they are beautiful though.
cheers, parsnip
Dry stone walling is an art, as Arija says and an expensive one too, I imagine, if one doesn't have the skill oneself. When we drive South through Langholm there's a huge new section of wall. Dread to think of the cost!
ReplyDeleteWonderful? Yes, it is exactly that.We should be full of wonder when we look at nature.
ReplyDeletePs. I would give my eye teeth to be taught dry stone walling.
Oh how I would love to have stone fences like those to mend, knowing all the while that it must be a constant challenge.
ReplyDeleteI love dry stone walls. They just mean "home" to me. My dad used to make scale models of them (correctly constructed)and I still have one - complete with a five bar gate in the middle!
ReplyDeleteThanks for these photos. I'm homesick now, though.
If I could be freed of all my other tasks I'd like to do a spot of drystone walling.
ReplyDeleteLovely owlets!
I am still in love with our deer fence - it works! The Great Dane keeps an eye out for breeches in the line.
ReplyDeleteahh weaver the work of a farmer is never ever done is it! steven
ReplyDeleteGood news re the owlets. I expect dry stone could be quite therapeutic as long as there's no rush to finish it, and the weather is kind...
ReplyDeleteThank you for letting me BE there for a few moments!
ReplyDeleteWarm Aloha from Waikiki :)
Comfort Spiral
Those dry stone walls make me feel so homesick. I love them. They make Yorkshire and Derbyshire what they are -- and other places too, I suppose but those two counties are in my past. I'll have to join Morning AJ
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments. They made the farmer smile - so many of you fancy doing a bit of stone walling - he says it is sod's law that walls only fall down just before a strong East Wind, usually accompanied by driving rain or snow, begins to blow.
ReplyDeleteIt plays havoc with hands, which can get literally red-raw in cold weather - and do remember stones are heavy before you find a stone walling class to join.
That little beck is so pretty - hope the farmer mended his fence without trouble. Building and mending stone walls is a specialised skill - they are works of art to me.
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