Countryfile
| DALES FOLK |  | | | PICK OF THE PAST | | | READERS' LETTERS | | | COUNTRYFILE | | | | CARTOONS | | |
|
|
|
From the farm at Yockenthwaite
The spring is sprung, the grass is ris, says the old country rhyme - and not before time. What a difference we have seen in the space of a week. It is a wonder we haven't been able to see things growing.
Not only can you see signs of spring, but you can hear it and smell it. Swallows and housemartins are gathering in increasing numbers on the telephone wires, twittering and chirping to each other, no doubt exchanging stories of their long hazardous journey back from their winter feeding grounds in South Africa.
The "dawn chorus" must be recruiting members on a daily basis because they were in tremendous voice this morning; far too many soloists to make a good choir though!
The housemartins are already busy building their "mud igloos" under the gutters across at Raisgill and it is good to see them back there as we have not had as many for the last couple of years.
You can also smell the warm earth; things growing in the garden, out in the fields, freshly turned earth in the garden and the new-mown lawn grass. Sheep and cattle have a different smell about them as well - it is difficult to describe, but it is a sweeter, grassy, more sickly smell.
Animals have an amazing sense of hearing and smell and Jan, one of our sheep dogs, excelled herself last week when she found a new-born lamb that had slithered down a hillside and slipped into a hole in the ground where the earth had fallen in between some rocks.
She was as pleased as punch with herself and has gone around ever since peering into holes in the hope of finding another "lost lamb" so that she can get some more praise from Stuart. She is usually in the bad books as she is not our best dog, but she comes into her own at lambing time when individual sheep and lambs need singling off from the rest. Because she is quite a timid dog and lacks confidence, she struggles when we are moving sheep "en masse".
We had a very hectic bank holiday weekend with farmers' markets at Stokesley and Mawdsley on Saturday and Skipton on Sunday whilst, at the same time, exhibiting for three days at the Leyburn Food and Drink Festival.
Preparing for these events is hard work and remembering everything is a nightmare, but once you get there and get set up, you can relax for a little while and enjoy selling the produce. We are all tired and ready for a break, but we have another busy week ahead of us so there is no chance just yet.
I actually managed to make time to walk around the last few lambing sheep with Stuart on Sunday night; I think we have about three sheep left.
After a long hard day at Leyburn, just getting out into the warm fresh air was a refreshing and welcome change from the noise and bustle; it was one of those evenings to be thankful for living where we live.
3:30pm Thursday 8th May 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
