Tuesday 2 February 2016

Disruptions

Our lane is now closed to all but residents of the lane (5 families in its whole two mile length) for the next three months as they fit a new gas main down its entire length.   This has not meant a great disruption but there are stretches where one has to drive slowly on the grass verge as the road is taken up by fencing and machinery - and that verge is getting more muddy by the day.

But today even more disrupting was the fact that our friend and neighbour A found that his 'muck' tank was full to overflowing and so he hired the big machine to spread it on the fields - our fields as well as his own.   And slowly but surely the smell has permeated the whole house.   As his farm, and most of our fields, are all on the West side of the house and the gale is blowing in from the West, there is no respite.

But then I suppose that is what farming is all about isn't it?

12 comments:

Derek Faulkner said...

Down here in Kent a few years ago, the local farmers used to stockpile during the summer, huge amounts of by-product from local sewerage farms and then spread it during cultivations in the autumn. The smell was horrendous and local communities complained to hell until it got stopped. Seems that in modern day Britain, using proper, organic manures on farmland is now frowned on, but so also, are using chemical fertilizers.

A Heron's View said...

I really cannot abide people who move into the countryside and then complain about
the agricultural way of life; seriously if they don't like it then they can remove themselves back into a oily, noisy and dirty town, I really don't care.

When it comes to sceptic tanks then I prefer the smell of a user who is a semi-veggie to that of a carnivore.

I also have my preferences with the type of slurry too and I realise that you townies may find this strange, but I much prefer the aroma of pig slurry to that of cattle.

Smells are just part of life in the countryside.

Dartford Warbler said...

It will soon blow through Pat. Either that or you will stop noticing it! Better then the pong of a human sewage farm any day.

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

The sugar factory operates on us from one direction, the rubbish tip from another, and the sewage farm for the rare Northerlies

angryparsnip said...

Oh No !

cheers, parsnip

Beverley said...

Pooh!!

Joanne Noragon said...

Tess must have been very happy.

Coppa's girl said...

Ah, the clean air of the countryside !

Librarian said...

Whether it is noise or smell, both are things we can't really escape and which can really stress us.
But of course it's all part of living in the country, isn't it.
I hope that nobody who lives along your lane gets stuck in the mud with their cars until the road is clear again!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Sorry Heron but you completely misunderstood my post. I was not complaining about the smell of the slurry - just reporting on it. I have lived in the country now for fifty of my years - with a gap in the middle for inner city teaching and in actual fact I quite like the slurry smell - I have to live with it every day as we have a herd of cows in our yard as I write. And when the slurry tank is full it has to be emptied, otherwise it overflows and the result is worse. But I would prefer it to be done when the wind is in a direction which does not blow the smell straight into my kitchen. Any other direction and it would disperse before it reached a house. But needs must.

thelma said...

When I was a child I used to love the smell of the farms, especially when they were muck spreading. Which I find totally weird but then I do love smelly cheeses ;) Gosh GAS in the countryside!

Heather said...

I used to be told it was a good healthy smell! Not quite sure about that, but it is one of the 'pleasures' of country living. Hope the weather dries up enough for your grass verge to become easier to negotiate and that the work on the lane doesn't go on too long.