Sunday 14 June 2015

Out to grass

13 grass

Today is rather gloomier and more overcast than expected. Even so, the gentle warmth and still calm is pleasant after the last week of ferocious winds followed by storms that took away my internet and the torrential rain that seemed to be about to wash everything away; although in the end it was a blessing to the vegetable patch.

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When this grey murk clears we are forecast ten days of sun and complete drought, so I'm hoping everything is making the most of the moisture while it can. The dryness will at least help keep the blight at bay for a little while longer - there are already Smith period warnings for Jersey.

I am entranced by the beauty of the flowering grasses this morning and have taken far too many pictures, none of which capture the real pleasingness of the actual plants. I've picked a few for this blog but there are more on my Ipernity pages following on from the link.

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It may not suit anyone with a grass pollen allergy but if you able to enjoy access to old meadowland or even a vergeside left feral then it's a wonderful source for reflective meditation, being graceful and fragile and yet absolutely tough and rooted in the present.

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In a startling reprise of last year we had another visitation from some loose young cows yesterday. This forced me into interaction with the local farmers because they needed to be collected and taken home.

Unlike last year the stock didn't belong to the stud next door but because of the contact we have revisited the idea of them taking our fields for hay this year, something which is of advantage to me in saved fuel costs and to the meadows as letting the cut grass lie as we've been doing will eventually damage the ecology by enriching the soil too much.

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Because we don't have animals grazing intensively here there is a delicate balance between removing material and retaining soil fertility at the right level for a complete ecosystem. It's not something that I believe has been much studied from a veganic point of view so we are experimenting while flying blind.

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The pyramidal orchid has thrown up a flower spike again which I was glad to see the cows had missed as they browsed their way along the lane. It's still small and unimpressive but it should get bigger over the next week. Still just the one that I can spot though which is a shame.

meadow brown

And the Meadow Brown butterflies, quintessential denizens of old grass land, re-appeared a couple of days ago. They'll be here all summer now, quiet and unassuming and very difficult to photograph.

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