Tuesday 13 March 2012

A Day in the farming calendar.

Yesterday's blog brought in some interesting comments about town versus country living, with most people preferring the countryside. Some of you had lived in towns (I have too) and are now 'put out to grass' as it were and I do think that the overall slant towards country living is probably because my blog followers tend to be country lovers.


But today, my friends, if you lived where I am living you might change your mind, for today is 'spread the muck' day. Cattle have been inside since October and the middens are full. The dairy herds have been milked twice daily and swilled out with water afterwards, so the slurry tanks are also full. Given that the ground is nice and hard, what do all the farmers in the vicinity do today?
Spread the muck on the fields.

It is impossible to have a door or a window open and even so the smell creeps in - not an altogether unpleasant smell but not the perfumes of Arabia.

I have taken Tess for a hairdo today so hopefully I will be able to post before and after photographs later in the day after I return from seeing 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' - we are really looking forward to that and I will report on it tomorrow.

12 comments:

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Movie? Yes!
Muck? No!

Mac n' Janet said...

Didn't have a chance to comment yesterday, but we prefer the country, we're 8 miles from a small town. I wish it were more village like where everyone knew everyone else, but we're such a transient nation that you're lucky if you know your next door neighbor's name.

Pondside said...

I can't wait to see that movie!
Spreading the muck - I well remember it from when we lived in the heart of a German farming village - the honey wagons would trundle past the house and I'd know to keep the windows closed for the day.

Heather said...

Muck spreading?! A good healthy smell!! (She said, holding her nose and closing the window).
Looking forward to seeing Tess's hairdo and hearing about the film. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

Thank goodness most people like to live in cities otherwise it would get mighty crowded in the countryside. Farmyard muck I'm more or less immune to but last year a farm near here was spreading something obtained from the local sewage works. I turned around and walked in the opposite direction.

MorningAJ said...

I want to see that movie. And you probably deserve it after muck spreading!

H said...

Funnily enough, I can tolerate the smell of muck.

I hope you enjoy the movie!

BilboWaggins said...

I've always loved the smell of muck being spread on the fields, happening around here a lot at present, just another sign of the endless annual cycle of growing and rearing. It doesn't smell for very long and has to be preferable to tons of artificial fertilisers which depend upon oil for production and pollute rivers with their run-off.

The Weaver of Grass said...

The smell has largelygone this morning and I suppose it does the fields some good. Thank you for the comments.

Unknown said...

Ah, the smell of black gold! I don't mind it a bit ;)

Anonymous said...

Yes, muck spreading happens here too, I just wish we could have advance warning...

rkbsnana said...

Perfumes of Arabia, huh? Cute post.