Is anyone asking where has the English Summer gone? Or is this a typical Summer, so there's no point in asking?
The farmer has only one more lot of haymaking to do - for a nice lady who has four horses. The weather was pleasant - sunny and breezy, perfect for the job - on Monday so he cut her field. Quite a few people around us did the same thing.
Since then it has rained almost non-stop. Tuesday was just a damp foggy day with intermittent showers - 5mm all day. Yesterday it rained more or less all day - another 7mm. Overnight it was damp and misty. Today it is warm, occasionally sunny and with a slight breeze, but not enough to dry the grass. Tomorrow the forecast is similar and then there are two wet days forecast again.
It is difficult not to keep weather-watching and it must be even more difficult for the lady concerned, with four horses to feed over the winter.
Farming is never easy.
I've always thought that more days are wasted to bad weather forecasts than to bad weather. You just have to do what you can when you can.
ReplyDeleteWe leave for Scotland soon. Packing sweaters, rain hats, and coats. Per usual!
ReplyDeleteAnd actually, after the hellishly hot summer we've had, I cannot wait. Let it blow!
xoxo
One thing you can always count on is that mother nature is a fickle one. We've finally had some rain after weeks without and the temperatures are bearable for a change. Over here in the US, the Old Farmer's Almanac is predicting a hard winter. We'll see. It was right last year.
ReplyDeleteIt's like fall here also...very strange!
ReplyDeleteLinda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
It must be almost impossible to correctly forecast our weather. It is so changeable and so localised. I hope the cut hay can won't spoil and go to waste. I was quite cold yesterday but today has been damp and very muggy. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.
ReplyDeleteOur sunflower crops were harvested yesterday, and the maize silage will be done any day. I've lived here for well over half my life, so tend to forget the unpredictability of the English weather. Chin up!
ReplyDeleteIt will soon be winter ...
ReplyDeleteRachel - thanks for those cheery words!!!!
ReplyDeleteI hope the weather improves and the hay can be salvaged!
ReplyDeleteThe price and availability of (small bale) hay are something I don't miss about when we had horses. Such a worry every year. It sounds like that lady's hay crop won't come to much unless it dries up pretty soon. When it's just a small acreage of hay you have to cut, I guess you have to wait until everyone else has got theirs in too.
ReplyDeleteSorry to have not visited your blog much this last week or so but I have our eldest daughter (and lovely new boyfriend) here and time has flown by.
Weather is no better and thunderstorms forecast for today and rain all next week. Luckily this is only a very small crop of grass, so shouln't make too much difference to the lady's winter feed.
ReplyDelete