How are yu all a’gettin on t’gether?
Last time I hed a wud a’long w’yu I recon that the Farmers would hev it all safely gathered in afor the end o’August. Well that din’t happin did it. Old Mother Nature she made sure o’that w’all that rain that cum down. Still them old wheats don’t go down like they used to years ago. That were a job then cos arter a tempest the old wheat would be a layin flat in the field just as if yu hed gone over it w’a set o’rolls. My heart that took sum cuttin, if that all lay the same way that wernt s’bad but if that lay all ways you hed a job. Yu ha’a drive the old combine real slow und keep a weavin the cutter bar back und forud so the old lifters could get under the straw. When yu did get the corn inta the tank that were only good t’feed to livestock. In them days most farms were mixed w’sum livestock and sum arable so corn that wernt good enough t’sell for malting und millin were kept for winter feed.
I were a’thinkin tuther day about when I warked for a local Corn Merchant durin the 1970s. I would go round at harvest time und try und buy cereals orf my customers. If the Barley were a malting variety I teak a sample to the maltings t’see what they would bid me. If they gi me a price I would go back t’the farm und try und buy it leaving me about £5 a tonne t’cover transport und a bit o’profit. That were the same w’millin wheat. I’d teake a sample inta Read’s at Norwich t’see if they would gi’me a price so I could go back t’the farm und try und buy the wheat for £5 a tonne less that the price Reads hed bid me. Cos I wernt the only one tryin t’buy the farmers corn . In the 1970s I recon that there were 7 or 8 other local merchants as well as the big national feed merchants like BOCM & Pauls of Ipswich all a goin round biddin the farmers prices for their crops either for malting, bread and biscuit flour or for turning inta animal feed cos in them days there were ni on a 1000 dairy herds in Norfolk as well as sum big pig and poultry units und they all ha’a be fed.
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Farmers used t’keep stock as well as hevin arable crops cos they used t’say that they allus hed suffin t’sell that were meakin a bit o’money. They hed a sayin “Up Horn (livestock) down Corn or tuther way round. At the moment I recon they would be a’sayin “down horn and corn cos the prices they are a’gettin for both are moderate. I see that them old french farmers are a demonstrating cos o’bad prices for their crops and milk by a drivin their tractors inta the cities in France t’stop the traffic. I suffin pleased the Missus und I arnt a goin over the water any time soon cos that would teak yu a rare lot o’time t’git anywhere if the roads were bunged up w’angry french farmers und thas afor you try t’git back acroos or under the channel.
They hev put up one o’them solar farms near the Norridge Rood behind them gret old warehouses. Sum folk recon they din’t ort be built cos that teake land outa food production. I recon what they want t’du is t’put them panels up higher orf the ground und sow grass so yu could graze sum sheep or run a few hins on the land underneath. Still I spus that with farm prices bein where they are solar panels are a’meakin more money for a farmer than lamb or eggs.
Well them boys up a Carra Rood hev meade a start a’playin w’the big boys. I recon they’ll du all right cos although they hant got any expensive players what they du hev is team spirit und play for each other. Sum o’them players in sum of them bigger teams are only a thinkin about one player when they git on the pitch……. thas them selves. Another think that dont help is them players cum from all over the world und half on um cant understand what the other half is a’sayin tu them and most of them hev a manager from sum where over the water un all.
Things are a’slowin up in the garden, the Missus und I hev started a’cuttin some things back. The trouble is I seem to hev got a lot more stuff t’put onta my old compost heap. The Missus is hevin a job t’hull anything up onta the top on it. I keep a’gettin up there und jammin about t’try und push the heap down, That ull be alright when I empty last years compost out t’meake more room. Until then I hev told the Missus I were a goin t’meake har a little ladder so she could get onta the top of heap w’me, then we can jam about t’gether . She dint say anything…… she just gi me one a’har looks.
Fare ye well t’gether und du yu keep a’troshin