Today 11 of us gathered to work at what was a new site for us. Our task was to scythe and then rake off the summer growth of grass and wildflowers. The little site is being developed as a wildflower area. Although quite small it contains a few trees and some interesting variation in ground levels with some banks sloping up from a ditch which runs into a small hollow or pond. There is a lovely big willow tree in the centre with a seat built around the trunk.
Fortunately for us Jenny, who we were working for, had managed to have the site cut by a kind local farmer. We set about raking up all the cut grass and depositing it into one large pile for later collection by another kind farmer! We used our scythes to cut around trees and other areas where the tractor cutter couldn't reach.
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From the village Jenny, her husband and Jenny's friend Julie were there to discuss the project, take photos and also kindly provide some large wheelbarrows and Cake! Amongst the general chatter we proceeded well in getting our task done. To me it felt like a scene from many years ago with a group of people working in the field raking up hay. Jeff was much in demand for pictures as he was scooping up piles of raked hay with a pitch fork and walking these to the large pile. It really made for a good photo!!
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I did say we got some work done amongst our talking and in fact we had finished by 1pm! Regrettably we managed to break one of our brand new glass flasks - but still had enough water so that we could all have hot drinks at morning and lunch breaks. Thanks to Jude who kindly did the brew kit for us today and wasn't even on task!
Jonathan
Jonathan