borders mean nothing
tending the earth, tilling soil
accidental deaths
~
n.b. Two killed driving a tractor, technically in another country, Poland, same war.
CLP 16/11/2022
Tag Archives: Farming
on time
furrowed brow of hill
autumn's celestial blue
alarmed crows take flight
~
n.b. One of Norfolk’s redundant churches, St Peter’s, Corpusty. It is said to have Norman elements, possibly even Saxon. It hosts an annual service for the Friends of Friendless Churches.
The tree to the left of picture hosts a rookery of argumentative corvids.
CLP 18/10/2022
on time
grain spilt on roadside
train rushes past fresh cut corn
harvest dust clouds air
~
n.b. It’s begun! Is this the best season of the year?
CLP 13/07/2022
on time
through the arch window
heart of pepper-pot windpump
green power returns
~
n.b. Just a few miles from this C19th windpump, built to keep the marshes accessible for farming by pumping floodwaters back into the tidal reaches of the Yare, there are now the wind turbines generating the power to fuel the electric pumps that do the same job today. It is said that over time all things go in cycles, much like wind-power.
CLP 09/05/2022
on paws
just for a moment
remembering a spaniel
the four leg, Clover
~
n.b. I feel lucky to have met and worked along side this loopy hound on a number of occasions. It will feel odd visiting that farm sometime in the not too distant future (hopefully) and not be greeted by this lovable character. Life goes on.
CLP 14/02/2022
On Time
grass mown and tedded
wuffled to speed its curing
awaiting baler
–
CLP 18/07/2021
Sheep
when we appear at the gate
their bleating starts
calling of ewes to lambs
lambs to ewes
locating each other in panicked calls
so anxious are they at our arrival
~
a pair of sturdy lambs burrow under a ewe
knocking the flighty beast off-balance
pull hard at her teats for comfort
lambs who already feed happily on grass
who merrily join patrols of this pasture
party to a gambolling gang
who normally ignore the stark-shorn ewes
lined by tines of electric shears
that have scored their skinned fleece pink
~
When our red quad-bike appears
these adolescent lambs cry
for more mother’s milk
perhaps instinctively aware
of what drives our human kindness
~
CLP 27/06/2021
On Water XLVI
makes up eighty-five
percent of grass, around sixty
percent of humans
~
CLP 23/05/2021
On The Table
Security is
required to ensure birds
make it to dinner
~
n.b. What goes on in these pristine sheds, behind this steel fence, in what passes for turkey farming in parts of Norfolk?
~
CLP 18/03/2021
L3(Day 51): Norfolk
Out into the broad expanses of Norfolk north of the city where the land is flat and the rivers are still young, we went. There vast swathes of open land devoid of hedge rows to protect the lanes from cold cross winds.
There are lines of ancient oak trees along some field boundaries, some showing signs of age, some of weakness, but the majority grey, stolid witnesses to the continuing changes in farming practise.
In one field machines were planting potatoes, in another despite the strong wind, spraying was taking place.
Where there was protection from the cold wind, the Sun was able to penetrate the February air and make it pleasantly warm.
At a stop for drinks, I queued behind behind a rotund man who spent nearly £50 on tobacco. Behind me a man had come in to buy lottery tickets. Outside at the chip shop a queue was forming along the village street. Friday for fish and chips?
On the way back a farm has reclaimed an area that had chainlink fencing and large areas of concrete aprons and old runways from the time of the Second World War. The nearby church of St Peter’s, with its round flint tower, had a sign stating that it was a site of Commonwealth War Graves. Here lie the remains of air crew from that conflict.
Passing through Norwich city centre on my way home, I was not surprised to see so many people walking in the bright February sunshine, but I was a little taken aback to see that several people seemed to be walking in groups, rather than alone, or in couples. There seems to have been a relaxation of the physical distancing rules all of a sudden. Have I missed something about Covid-19 not being able to infect people in this city?
I am increasingly aware of people being affected for significant periods of time by the symptoms of Long Covid. I am also aware of an attitude that some people who now having been vaccinated losing interest in what is going on with pandemic. Meanwhile teachers and school staff, police, prison officers and supermarket workers are being asked to work on without being repaid for their year-long public service by early vaccinations.
Teaching staff in the UK have suffered a death rate from Covid-19 of around a quarter more than the general population and still The Great Clown wants to make them wait by age for vaccination. Bad mouthing the teaching unions as he goes. If children’s education is so important, why has he not working with the workers’ unions to get a decent plan? Dead teachers can’t teach.
It is late. I am tired.
~
CLP 26/02/2021
Voyage des Mots 