Friday 19 August 2011

"How doth the busy little bee....








''''improve each shining hour.
and gather honey all the day
from every opening flower".

Well, come hell or high water the farmer has started second-crop silage. Yesterday they came to bale it up and wrap it and managed to get 45 big bales down before the heavens opened and it rained heavily - and got dark.

This morning it is sunny and warm and there is a light breeze, so we begin again and as I write it is being baled up, so fingers crossed it should be in by tonight, which only leaves three fields to go this year.

Tess and I wandered round the field margins. As the grass has now been cut it is easy walking. I was struck by the number of wild flowers which are still flowering but already going into Autumn seed, to make provision for next year. And the same can be said of the bees.

There was a lot of knapweed and almost every bloom had a bee on it, gathering nectar to store for the winter. Isn't marvellous how every living thing stores up 'food' for the winter - in other words, for survival? Hedgehogs are getting fat on our farm cats' food. We do not begrudge them a single bowl full - they keep our slug numbers down and they must be fat to survive winter in the haybarn, where they lose a huge amoung of their body weight during hibernation.

Speaking of food, I think Tess is becoming a food fad; sad to admit she has me on a short string. She went without food for the whole of Wednesday and Thursday, rejecting her usual biscuits and tinned meat. I threw them away and opened a new tin and a new box of biscuits of a different flavour and she rejected them too.
Last night - in desperation - I scrambled two eggs and put them down on a plate. In the blink of an eye she had eaten the eggs, then the biscuits, then the meat - licked everything clean. Today I have bought ham, which she adores. Already on the three times I have opened the fridge door she has been at the door in a flash looking to see which shelf the ham is on.

Couldn't resist a long shot of a chinook going over as we were on our walk. What a lovely view they must have had on such a glorious day, even if they do disturb the peace with their racket.

16 comments:

Heather said...

Lovely post Pat, delightful wild flowers - glad the silage is getting made albeit in fits and starts. Chinooks are very noisy aren't they, and make me think of the PushMePullYou from Dr.Doolittle with their two rotors. Poppy loves eggs too and I only have to crack one open in the kitchen and she's right beside me looking hopeful.

Midlife Roadtripper said...

You could probably sell that baled work here in Texas. With the drought, not much in the line of feed coming out of our fields. I know Wyoming ranchers are planning on selling to the Texans.

Acornmoon said...

Now you know how much I love bees!

I have noticed huge numbers of swallows this year. Out local farmer has a couple of fields which are fallow. He cuts when the grass is very high, almost immediately the grass grows again with clovers and wild flowers. I suppose they in turn attract the insects which then attract the birds.

Ted is very faddy too, just like Tess.

Arija said...

I am glad most of the silage is done and you can enjoy walking on the cut admiring the wildflowers and they certainly are admirable with their plentiful food source for bees an related insects.

Pomona said...

Our border collie will often reject the dry food, but if you put an egg or leftover gravy on it she will then gobble it up!

Pomona x

Crafty Green Poet said...

I always love to watch the bees, there are lots of hoverflies here too at the moment

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

You have one bright dog there! When I worked on a farm we had a Jack Russell that always came to watch the men eat their sandwiches. We'd toss him odd bits of crust, a crisp, a piece of cake... he'd sniff all of them and reject them till the last man put his sandwich box back in his bag and he realised no more would be offered. Then the crafty little terrier would gobble down every last crumb!

Dave King said...

Good to hear that you still have bees. I've seen a few, but not many this year.

It's always good to hear about the changing face of nature, of course.

ArtPropelled said...

It must have been a lovely walk beside fields of wildflowers.... suddenly I have a yearning to be there.

Elizabeth said...

Dear Weaver,
Tess sounds to have you EXACTLY where she wants you.....
Scrambled egg. YUM

I love to see the bees.
Buster is far too interested in them --and has not discovered the down side of such an interest...yet

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thank you fro the comments.

bekahjane said...

wildflowers are always delightful. cheers!

H said...

I hope the farmer managed to get the silage in before the rains came this afternoon!!

Dartford Warbler said...

We have so many different solitary bees here and there is a wild hive of honey bees somewhere nearby. I love the sounds of humming and droning in a summer garden.

As for Chinooks. They remind me of the Giant Catching expedition in the film of the BFG. I imagine a huge , roaring giant, caught in a large net slung underneath the helicopter.....

I hope your second silage harvest was a success before the rains returned.

Reader Wil said...

Pat, you brought some bit of summer in my house! Thank you!.

Bovey Belle said...

Lovely photos of the wild flowers. I had to smile at Tess having you under her paw. One of our cats is like that - she is always making demands for cheese or ham and will NOT shut up until she gets some!