By the time you read this the clocks will ha’ bin put back & that’ll be to dark to get out inta the old garden arter tea.
Duin September another day whot mean a lot t’farmers will ha’bin an gon, thas Michaelmas day.
This is the day is when farms changed hands, Harvest ha finished & most o’the land will be a lain falla so the new owner or tennent can take over & sow the next crops. When there were a lot o’smaller farms in the county that meant that arter harvest & afor Michaelmas day there were a’lot of farm sales when the live an dead stock(machinery) were sold orf. I used t’like a drawin along t’a farm auction, besides buyin suffin you met other farmers & werkers for a mardle, there used t’be a beer tent at most auctions, acors as farms ha got bigger there arn’t so not s’meny t’change hands now so there arn’t so meny auctions t’go to.
We’r lucky cos there’s an auction every week up at Watton sale yard, I draw up there most weeks t’have a look, If yer a lookin for suffin arter a while that ull tun up, I’m a lookin for suffin at the moment, I arn’t a goin t’tell you what that is,cos if I du, when that do tun up yu might be there & bid agin me.
They keep a sayin that we ha gotta recycle things more, well I recon farmers ha bin a’doin that f’years cos farm sales are a way of recyclin stuff, I remember on one farm I were a werkin on our master took over another farm & when we were a trimmin back a big hedge we found a set of harras & a rib roll what had bin put in the hedge t’stop up a gap so the cattle dint get out, we dragged the harras & roll out of the hedge und got um t’the blacksmith who tricolated them up so we could use um again on the land, now that were 45 year a’go so recyclin ent nothin new.
Durin the harvest they ha bin a cartin a lot of straw through the village, with them big bales that don’t take long t’clear a field. That used t’take a lot longer when we were a usin them little old bales, before there were machines hung on the back of balers t’drop the bales out in groups balin were a 2 man job. There were a man a drivin the tractor a pullin the baler & another bein towed on a sledge behind where the bales cum out. When I were a younun this were a job I used t’do. The sledge were several long planks o’wood bolted t’a head stock that were attached t’the baler by a chain. You ha’a stand on these planks & as the bales cum orf the back o’the baler you stacked them up & when they were 4 or 5 high you stuck a iron bar inta the ground between the planks & pushed the bales orf, you ha’a try & get the stacks o’bales in a’line acroos the field cos this made it easier when the men cum to load them onta trailers. That were a dusty old job a standin on the old sledge a tryin t’keep yar balance & movin the bales about with-out a fallin orf, acors Health & Safety wont allow that t’happin now.
Thas a good job the H & S men wern’t about when my father boss built a bale sledge t’go behind the combine. When combines fust cum about you could have a straw buncher on the back, as the threshed straw cum orf the back o’the combine that tied it inta bunches, rather than hev the bunches layin about all over the field Dad’s boss built a sledge to be towed behind the combine so a man could stack 50 -60 these bunches on the sledge, when yu ha got a full load instead of usin a metal pole t’push the bunches orf the sledge you ha’a pull a lever & the floor behind where you were a standin tipped up like a cart & the bunches slid orf & then swung back inta place so you could start a stakin the bunches again, now that were a filthy job cos you got all the dust, chaff & coulder that the combine were a chuckin out, that wernt s’bad if there were a cross wind a blowin. You ha’a look out cos if the front end of the combine got blocked cos the driver would stop & reverse the combine t’clear the blockage, you ha’a jump outa the way or the combinw would ha driv over yu.
Well I ha better be a gettin outside cos there are one or two jobs I ha got t’get dun before the old weather stop me. I like t’try & keep outside cos I can allus find suffin t’do, if that tun wet I draw inta my shud or the greenhouse cos I am a already thinkin about what I am agin t’plant next year. My old strawberries dint do to sharp this year so I am a goin t’build m’self a wooden trough on legs. I’m a goin t’fill this wi sum soil & compost & plant me strawberries in that and put um somewhere where they’l get more sun. Bein orf the ground ull make picken on um easier un all. I arnt a goin t’tell the Missus I am a goin t’build it cos she recon now I hant got any more room. I keep a tellin her there’s plenty o’room upwards.
Fare ye well t’gether & du you keep a troshin.