Cutting The Meadow

Nicky starts the cut

Just before the recent spell of hot weather was forecast to break we decided it was time to cut the meadow yesterday, a real case of making hay while the sun shines! Luckily for us the morning at least was cool as after the first initial cut there was plenty of raking to do. Giles had a brain wave and suggested using the leaf blower to help make piles of the hay which worked really well, and so our day was spent covered in grass seed helping the occasional stranded small creature to the safety of the meadow edges, mostly toads which don't crawl very fast! Ours is not the best meadow in the world consisting mainly of coarse grass and nettles but it is still a fantastic habitat for all sorts of insects, small mammals and wild flowers. Along the edge of the haha in particular we came across a lovely patch of ladies bedstraw Galium verum, smothered in bees with a sent of hay and honey which it retains when dried which was why it was used to stuff the pillows and mattresses of women in childbirth, very apt considering Kate's good news yesterday. It also has a high acid content and was traditionally used to curdle milk for cheese making being one of the key ingredients in making Double Gloucester.

"Many eyes go through the meadow, but few see the flowers in it"
Ralph Waldo Emerson

One of the many loads of hay

Ladies bedstraw