Tuesday 2 July 2013

We are surrounded.

Man the barricades - we are surrounded.   We have slurried fields to the right of us,  slurried  fields to the left of us, and also in front and behind.   Comments range from "Good healthy smell round here!" (Tesco delivery man this morning) to "OMG how can you stand it? (friends).

The good news is that it is raining steadily.   We need it - both in the vegetable garden to perk up all our growing veggie crop and, more importantly, to wash the slurry in and with it the smell (hopefully).

After today the weather forecast for the next week is good.   Our paddock is the only meadow which has not been cut for silage (the pastures all have stock grazing on them) and, as usual, the farmer hopes to make it into hay.   I don't think he really needs hay these days, but traditionally we have always made 'a bit of hay' and it makes a lovely stack in the hay barn for the hedgehogs to snuggle into come the winter.   We always have a goodly number hibernate in there.

Grass plus the cutter plus the sunshine equals one thing - glorious, delicious summery smells.   And believe me, round here, they can't come soon enough.

13 comments:

Bovey Belle said...

Living surrounded by farmland, I too am very familiar with "that" smell! It'll put hairs on your chest, my dad would have said! I am sure the rain will soon take it into the soil, and the pong with it.

Meanwhile, I can understand the Farmer still wanting to make his "bit of hay" - nothing smells quite like it and if they made it into perfume, I would wear it.

Arija said...

The good thing about the pong is that the job has been done and nature can take her course and wash it into the soil. Nothing like the smell of new mown hay, lucky hedgehogs.

Heather said...

Hope you have a fragrant pomander to hand! I'm looking forward to next weeks promised (?) heatwave - today I am frozen! It will hopefully bring perfect conditions for haymaking.

Twiglet said...

We had that pong here last week. The tractor also dropped great globs on the road which splashed up under my car leaving a warm slurry smell in my garage when I parked up!!! Mmm the pleasures of country life! Hope we get a bit more sunshine this week - the hay field has just been cut so I expect it will be baled and whisked away soon. -Jo

thelma said...

The 'hay' sweet smell is due to a substance called coumarin, that is why you can always smell a good hay by the addition of clover. But, and there is a but, cows do not necessarily like it because it is bitter and if they eat mouldy hay can suffer from 'sweet clover disease'.
Thought I would introduce myself Weaver of Grass by finding out obscure facts ;) but it is also in sweet woodruff as well. which has a lovely smell....

Em Parkinson said...

That smell is one of the few on the farm that I'm not so keen on. Don't like underdone haylage either which should really have been silage. Getting the smell out of your hands/clothes is almost impossible. I was NOT popular when I came home smelling of it night after night!

Crafty Green Poet said...

oh I don't like that smell either...

lovely to have the hedgehogs hibernating in the hay...

Molly said...

I love the smell of grass when it's just been cut but definitely NOT the smell of slurry. We have our fair share around here too. When they're spreading it - not a day for hanging washing out or leaving windows open. The smell seems to permeate everything. It's vile.

angryparsnip said...

I like that the farmer still makes some hay for the hedgehogs !

cheers, parsnip

Dave King said...

A lovely, hopeful post, with more than a smack of God's in His heaven, all's right with the world. I love it, and hope for you and yours that it stays that way. Thanks.

A Heron's View said...

We frequently have slurried fields around us from a variety of sources. I believe that the worst of them is from sceptic tanks, which nearly always happens when we have town-friends visiting us!
Slurry from cows I can live with and so to with Pigs in short doses.

Mown grass I am unable to smell perhaps it far to subtle for me.

Hildred said...

Surrounded here too, but the lilies are out and so the smell is much more pleasant, - lovely and rich and tangy, - I would send you some if I could.

Terry and Linda said...

I love the smell of hay, growing, cut and receiving water! Manure...just a fact of farm life I guess. Sigh!

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com