THE MEADOW - ALL IS SAFELY GATHERED IN.
The annual cycle of growth and gathering is over in the meadow for this year. Although the hay is taken in July and the bales finally stacked towards the end of the month I always feel like it is summer's first goodbye when I look at the short, sun browned grass where until recently there was a lush sea of green.
We have a clay soil over limestone and it is heavy and deep around the house ( a nightmare to dig and horrible in the vegetable garden) but as you get to the top of the hill in front of the house it becomes thinner, less nutritious and more stony and the grass in the meadow becomes less lush. This is not so good for our neighbour, Patrick, who cuts the grass and keeps the hay, as he gets less yield from the thin earth, but it suits me down to the ground. The thin soil, which is not fertilized - either by chemicals or by having grazing animals defaecate all over it - does not support verdant grass and so allows wild flowers to flourish. This year in particular was spectacular for orchids and there followed on a wonderful display of wildflowers.
Patrick cuts the grass in July - Much to Richard's annoyance as it is looking really scruffy and full of spent seed heads by then. I am delighted, however, because the seeds are allowed to ripen and fall and continue the cycle of germination and growth. The hay is left to dry, turned once or twice to help the process then baled into big round bales - this is a recent innovation, until about four years ago we still saw the old small rectangular ones. Finally, after a suitable delay, the bales are gathered in and left in a pile by the road side (like fat hitch-hikers waiting for a lift) until they are taken to the barn on Patrick's farm.
So the grass has all gone for another year and the end of summer beckons. Bizarre - for really as August begins the French summer holiday season also begins in earnest. Today was the 'grand départ' when all of France seems to empty onto the roads at the same time to go on its annual holiday. Driving around the area doing my day job today (selling houses) it was interesting too see how many houses which stand empty for much of the year suddenly have two or three cars parked outside of them as owners arrive to enjoy August in the French countryside. But already on the horizon we have the 'rentrée' - or start of the next academic year, which is in the first week in September. It all happens too fast.
Did anyone see Bill Turnbulls' s program on honey bees last night on BBC TV. It was excellent - factual not mawkish, treated us like adults in its style of presentation and was very clear about the threats facing not only honey bees but the many many other varieties of highly specialised pollenating insects on which our wider harvest ultimately depends. The man is a bee keeper AND he likes opera. He can do no wrong!
We have a clay soil over limestone and it is heavy and deep around the house ( a nightmare to dig and horrible in the vegetable garden) but as you get to the top of the hill in front of the house it becomes thinner, less nutritious and more stony and the grass in the meadow becomes less lush. This is not so good for our neighbour, Patrick, who cuts the grass and keeps the hay, as he gets less yield from the thin earth, but it suits me down to the ground. The thin soil, which is not fertilized - either by chemicals or by having grazing animals defaecate all over it - does not support verdant grass and so allows wild flowers to flourish. This year in particular was spectacular for orchids and there followed on a wonderful display of wildflowers.
Patrick cuts the grass in July - Much to Richard's annoyance as it is looking really scruffy and full of spent seed heads by then. I am delighted, however, because the seeds are allowed to ripen and fall and continue the cycle of germination and growth. The hay is left to dry, turned once or twice to help the process then baled into big round bales - this is a recent innovation, until about four years ago we still saw the old small rectangular ones. Finally, after a suitable delay, the bales are gathered in and left in a pile by the road side (like fat hitch-hikers waiting for a lift) until they are taken to the barn on Patrick's farm.
So the grass has all gone for another year and the end of summer beckons. Bizarre - for really as August begins the French summer holiday season also begins in earnest. Today was the 'grand départ' when all of France seems to empty onto the roads at the same time to go on its annual holiday. Driving around the area doing my day job today (selling houses) it was interesting too see how many houses which stand empty for much of the year suddenly have two or three cars parked outside of them as owners arrive to enjoy August in the French countryside. But already on the horizon we have the 'rentrée' - or start of the next academic year, which is in the first week in September. It all happens too fast.
Did anyone see Bill Turnbulls' s program on honey bees last night on BBC TV. It was excellent - factual not mawkish, treated us like adults in its style of presentation and was very clear about the threats facing not only honey bees but the many many other varieties of highly specialised pollenating insects on which our wider harvest ultimately depends. The man is a bee keeper AND he likes opera. He can do no wrong!
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