Harvesting Our Hedgerows.

                                                                        Harvest Time.

It will soon be time to start harvesting the various fruits and nuts from our hedgerows around the fields and our woods. One of the first to harvest is the fruit of the Crab Apple but because the spring was a long time coming you may still be able to find some Elder Flowers that are still usable to make Elderflower Cordial, here is a recipe.

Ingredients;
2 1/4 lb of sugar.
2 1/2 pints of boiling water.
4 medium size washed Lemons.
30 good sized Elderflower Heads. ( shake off any insects. )
2 oz of citric acid.

Method;
Put sugar in a large saucepan/stockpot or a large Pyrex bowl. Pour in the boiling water over the sugar stirring till all the sugar has dissolved and allow to cool.
Using a fine grater, grate the rind of the lemons and add to the sugared water.
Slice the lemons into thick slices and add to the water. Add the citric acid and stir in, then finally add the flower heads to the water and stir again.
Cover with a clean cloth and leave to steep for 48 hours.
Strain through a clean fine muslin cloth into a clean bowl.
Using a funnel, fill your pre sterilised bottles, seal and store in a cool dark place for a few weeks before drinking or freeze some of them in plastic bottles until wanted. Once opened store in refrigerator.

                                                                      Crab-apple Jelly.

Ingredients;
6 lbs of crab-apples.
4 pints of water.
Sugar.

Method;
Wash and cut apples in to quarters, without peeling or coring. Put in a large saucepan and add the water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 1 and a half hours, or until the fruit is well mashed, add a little more water if required. At this point you may add a few cloves or some bruised root ginger to add flavour to the apples while they are cooking but this is optional, personally I don't bother.
When finished strain the contents through a jelly cloth.

Now measure the extracted liquid and for each pint add 1 lb of sugar on returning it back to the pan. Now here is the tricky bit. Bring the pan to the boil, stirring until all the sugar is dissolved, then bring to a rapid boil until the setting point temperature is reached, you may use a jam making thermometer for this or you can test by putting a drop on to a cold spoon, if it starts to set then you are ready to go. Skim, pot and cover your jars in the usual way. I often have problems with the last part getting it to set but I normally get there in the end.
This makes a smashing Jelly and served with Pork you can't beet it.

                                                                           Cherry's.

 I see the Cherry's on the trees along Shobnall Road are ready for picking and I have spotted the post man and a news paper boy already taking them. There is a group of trees opposite Marstons Club but I would ask before picking them. The cherry's when used with some Granny Smith's Apples do make a nice pie but you can also make a nice sauce to serve with roast duck. Here is the recipe for the sauce.

Ingredients;
100 ml of Chicken stock.
100 ml of Port.
A good handful of cherry's stoned and halved.
A desert spoon of red current jelly.
One roast duck.

Method;
Put the chicken stock and the port in a pan and bring to the boil and reduce by a third. Add the cherries and simmer for 5 minutes, then stir in the red current jelly until dissolved. Serve hot or cold with your roast duck.

These tips and the use of various fruits etc will be ongoing as the seasons change and the fruits ripen, so keep checking for updates as I add to the list.

                                                                            Jam Making.

Jam making in days of old was a hectic time when the seasonal fruits were being harvested to make the jams and preserves that were going to feed you through the winter months. All this has changed, now that the fruits can be picked when at their best and frozen, there is now no such urgency to race around to make your preserves and jams. Jams made from frozen fruit will taste infinitely fresher and more delicious than fruit jams made three or four months earlier.

A selection of jams.

To make your jams you will need a large saucepan ( Not Aluminium. ) sugar  and fruit of your choice. When buying your Sugar do not buy Jam Making Sugar, it is not necessary unless you are making a jam from a fruit that has a low pectin content. Slightly under-ripe fruit can make a better jam, because of the higher acidity level. Here is a list of fruits that are high in pectin and do not require any additive to help make your jam and a list of other fruits that are high and may require some help and a list of fruits that are low in pectin and will require help.

High in Pectin. ( No help. )
Crab apples, blackcurrants, gooseberries, plums, redcurrants, cooking apples, damsons, quince, lemons and most plums.

High Pectin level. ( But may need help. )
Raspberries, loganberries, boysenberries, tayberries and apricots.

Low in Pectin. ( Use jam making sugar. )
Blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, rhubarb, elderberries, peaches, sweet cherries, desert apples and pears.

Tip:
Adding Lemon juice ( about a quarter of a cup per batch ) helps to activate the pectin to set. Lemon juice or citric acid is often needed with some fruits even those that are high in natural pectin to get your set. It's also handy to put a couple of small plates in your fridge to use when testing if your fruit is ready. When you think it has reached the setting point put a spoonful of your jam on the middle of a cold plate and if it starts to go wrinkly then the set point has been reached.

Now I am no expert when it comes to making jams but I have had some success and some disasters. So from here on may I suggest that you follow a well tried and proven recipe, there are plenty to follow in books or you can find them on the internet, if you get stuck buy readymade or try again it's worth doing.

On the boil. It looks good
even at this stage.

Robin Hood.

Robin Hood:

Mention the name ‘Robin Hood, and most people think of Sherwood Forest and the Sheriff of Nottingham.  The legend, entrenched in popular imagination by numerous TV series and blockbuster Hollywood movies, tells how Robin of Loxley returns from the Holy Land where he has been fighting the Saracens in the service of Richard the Lionheart, to find his father killed and his lands forfeit.  Forced to live as an outlaw in the woods he becomes Robin Hood, where with his childhood sweetheart Maid Marion at his side, he gathers a trusted band of men about him in order to frustrate the ambitions of Prince John and protect the rights of common people until King Richard returns from the crusades.

Nottingham has built a thriving tourist industry on the slimmest of evidence.  Other areas, notably Barnsdale in Yorkshire, make similar claims to be the home of Robin Hood.  There assertions are based on myth and folklore rather than hard historical fact and when it comes anecdotal evidence, Staffordshire can more than match anything Nottingham or Barnsdale has to offer.

Louis Rhead, who wrote one of the most popular books on Robin Hood, published in 1912, sets much of the action in Sherwood Forest but identifies him at the beginning as living ‘on an estate near Locksley village, about two miles from the famous old town of Uttoxeter  … on the borders of the Royal Forest of Needwood’.  Most of the legends identify Robin as Robin of Locksley/Loxley and sometimes as the Earl of Huntingdon.  Loxley, between Abbots Bromley and Uttoxeter is as good a candidate as any.  Modern Loxley Hall largely dates from the 18^th century but parts of the fabric are two hundred years older and an earlier house stood on the same site.

Loxley Hall.

A more recent photo of
Loxley Hall.

The Great Hall.

The Hall is now a school.

The gates to the school depict an
image of Robin Hood.

          In the grounds can be found Maid Marion’s Walk and arbour, Robin Hoods hunting horn', reputedly a prize won in an archery competition at Tutbury, once hung in Loxley Hall.

All that's left of the Arbour. The remaining
stone work was removed for safe keeping. 

Maid Marion's Walk in the grounds
of Loxley Hall.

The silver hunting horn that
mysteriously disappeared.

 The silver horn engraved with the initials ‘RH’ mysteriously disappeared after US soldiers were billeted at Loxley during World War II.  According to local tradition, Maid Marion grew up in a cottage at Yoxall and met Robin when he passed by as she was bathing in the River Swarbourn.  Today a modern bungalow occupies the site on the banks of the river just north of the village.

Loxley is on the fringes of Needwood Forest.  Anyone growing up in the area in the medieval period is likely to have learned woodland skills and how to hunt deer and other game.  A family called ‘Hodes’ is documented living at Loxley in a 13^th-century survey.  We can easily dispel the Huntingdon myth, the earls are well documented but there is an interesting connection with Loxley and the Hodes.  David St Liz, Earl of Huntingdon in the early 13^th-century married Maud, sister of the Earl of Chester and it was the Norman earls of Chester who dispossessed the Saxon Hodes of their land at Loxley after the Conquest.  Saxon/Norman rivalry is a common thread running through many of the tales told of Robin Hood.   

Each year in September, the village of Abbots Bromley celebrates the Horn Dance.  The origins of this festival are obscure but it is worth noting that Robin Hood and Maid Marion appear as characters in the ritual.  A medieval stained glass window formerly in St Margaret’s Church, Betley (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum though the church has a copy) features Robin Hood, Maid Marion and other ‘Merry Men’ figures. 

The Horn Dance.

One of the earliest written sources to mention Robin Hood is a medieval manuscript in the British Museum.  This tells not of Maid Marion marrying Robin Hood but Clorinda, Queen of the Shepherds.  In this account Robin meets Clorinda in Needwood Forest, dressed in a gown of green velvet and armed with a longbow.  She tells him she is going ‘to kill a fat buck; for tomorrow is Titbury (i.e. Tutbury) fair’.  Soon after Clorinda makes good her boast when a herd of deer pass by and is joined by a suitably impressed Robin, Little John and other companions for a feast.  Afterwards, Robin proposes marriage and the couple send for Sir Roger, the local parson, taking their vows beneath an ancient yew in the churchyard of St Cuthbert’s, Doveridge.  A placard in the churchyard where the centuries old yew still stands recounts the legend.

The Placard.

The Yew Tree.

Tutbury Castle.

From Doveridge, Robin, Little John and Clorinda leave Tutbury. The ballad continues that after travelling ‘five Staffordshire miles’ they are accosted by a group of eight yeomen who demand they hand over the buck Clorinda had bagged earlier.  Robin and Little John set about the men until they beg for mercy.  The writer locates the scene ‘near to Titbury town where the bagpiper baited the bull’.  Is it just coincidence that a stone said to mark the scene of a battle fought by Robin Hood, recorded in the mid-19^th century close to crossroads north of Draycott in the Clay where Fauld Lane leads to Tutbury but now lost, is just about the right distance and en route to fit with the medieval ballad?  Tutbury Fair, famously featuring bull running, is well documented and was held in mid-August each year.  During the middle ages it involved a Minstrels’ Court and festivities that drew people from far and wide.

There are many more stories spanning the years from c.1200 to the early 14^th century.  His legendary prowess as an archer certainly points towards a later date than the time of Richard I when the longbow was little used.  By the late-13^th century archery was hugely popular and the most proficient archers won popular acclaim.  

Burton Bridge Circa 1600

Among the numerous folktales is one that Robin fought against Edward II in the retinue of the Earl of Lancaster, whose stronghold was Tutbury Castle, at the Battle of Burton Bridge in 1322.  If he was involved it is more evidence to suggest he was local.  It also provides a plausible reason why he was outlawed and as it happens, the King’s right hand man was the Sheriff of Nottingham.  Edward subsequently pardoned many of those outlawed for their part in the Lancastrian revolt.  A royal pardon for Robin Hood fits the story commonly told, though the king involved is widely assumed to be Richard I, he is usually identified in early ballads only as ‘the comely king’, and records reveal a Robin Hood serving for a year in Edward’s household in 1323.

The people round Uttoxeter will continue to believe that the famous outlaw was born at Loxley and that he was possibly a member of the De Ferrers family ’Robert Ferrers’ son of the Earl of Derby who once owned the Hall and Chartley Castle. The Earl of Derby forfeited his lands including Tutbury Castle for taking part in the abortive Rebellion by the Barron's against Henry 111 in 1264 or 1266. Two local historians Erdeswich and Redfern also believe that the Loxley where Robin Hood came from is the Loxley in Staffordshire near Uttoxeter. This  area of Staffordshire along with all its other connections seems to have more to offer than all other contenders for being the true birthplace of Robin Hood. The picture of Robin Hood’s Hunting Horn has the initials R.H. quite clearly engraved upon it and either side of his initials can be seen three horseshoes set in a shield. These horseshoes are part of the arms of the De Ferrers family laying claim to suggest he was from that family. 

This bungalow is said to have been
built on the original foundations of Maid Marion's home.

We will probably never know the truth. Man or myth: fact or fiction? The legend of Robin Hood has a potent grip, and the weight of evidence certainly stacks up for a Staffordshire man - our hero!

The Forrester's Arms at Yoxall
until recent years, depicted a sign of figure of a man drawing his bow dressed in Lincoln Green.

The Rut.

     
                                                        
                                                                              The Roe Deer.

We are coming up to the end of the month and the weather has been fantastic, if you like it hot. The temperature has been well up in the 70s and 80s this is a bit to hot for me. However there is one animal that likes these hot and humid days and if there is a chance of the weather turning thundery then it likes it even more. What animal you might ask likes this weather, well it is the Roe Deer ( Capreolus capreolus ) the European roe deer is a relatively small member of the deer species in the U-K, standing at around 30inches high with a body weight of 33 - 77 lb. Its coat, referred to as pelage in the summer is of a bright red colour like a fox. In the winter months it turns to a dark grey. Both sexes have a white rump patch that they flick out when alarmed. On the female ( doe ) it is heart shaped and on the male the ( buck ) it is kidney shaped. They also let out a bark like a dog when alarmed.
                                           

A Roe Buck in its
summer coat.

A group of Roe Deer in
their winter coat.

 Only the male has antlers that are short and erect that grow from its pedicles, a part of the frontal bone of the skull and at the base of the antler is the coronet.

Antler terms of a Roe Deer.

 The antler is cast each year usually between October and December with new growth commencing straight away and being completed by March or April. When the new antlers are growing they are covered with velvet, a thin layer of tissue containing nerves and blood vessels. Once the new antler has reached its full size the velvet starts to fray and fall off. This is an irritation to the animal and it will find a tree stem that it can rub its antlers up and down on to help get rid of it quicker.

A buck shedding its velvet.

This is called fraying and to the owner of a wood that is managed for its timber the damage to trees especially in a plantation can kill a young tree or inhibit its growth. As the animal ages its antlers improve, they grow thicker and develop the tines ( points ) on each one: brow, top and back point with the pearling becoming more pronounced. The coronet also gets bigger and when the animal has reached maturity at about seven years of age they will eventually meet. Some males never develop their antlers or only grow single spikes.  These are often referred to as 'Murder Bucks'.  The reason for this is that in a fight with another buck because its antlers have no points on them to catch in the antler of the other animal, it can cause severe damage to the other animal that may result in its untimely death. Sometimes an animal may have a problem with the growth of its antlers. It may be hormone related or due to a number of different reasons and it becomes malformed or it becomes a perruque. The deer manager in each of these circumstances will endeavour to remove this animal when carrying out his culling duties.

A Roe Buck with a good head.

A Perruque.

A Murder Buck.

A malformed head.

                                                                                  The Rut.

It is at this time of the year that the bucks become restless and let off steam by increased fraying activity and barking loudly at other deer. Sometimes fights will occur if there is more than one male in an area and there is a doe present. If a buck finds a doe in his area and she is ready to mate then a very hectic chase begins with the buck following the doe. During these chases and at other times when the doe wants to attract a buck she often makes a high pitched squeaking noise and the buck responds with a wheezing sound like someone with asthma. Quite often these chases take place around a stump of an old tree or a bush or an anthill and as they run around it they make a circular or a figure of eight track. This is referred to as a roe ring. After a while the doe may allow the buck to mount her. After several attempts, if she is ready, then she will allow copulation to take place. Although the mating with the buck of her choice may have been a successful one she may do it again with one or more bucks. The doe is monoestrous, only coming in to season once a year. The rutting activity is most likely to be seen during the day when the weather is warm and dry or thundery, hence this time of the year being called the rut in the roe deer. The roe deer breeding calendar is different to other deer species like Red, Fallow and Sika that have their rut in October with the fawns being born in June and July where as in roe deer the young are born in April, May and July.

Mother and triplets.

A Roe fawn.

                                                                             After the Rut.

Once the rut has taken place and all activity has ended, usually by the middle of August, the bucks seem to disappear for a period of (3 or 4 weeks ) although some individuals may continue to pursue any doe in the area on the off chance that she may still be receptive. Sometimes in late september there is again signs of rutting activity and this is known as the false rut. It is usually the activity of very young bucks and seldom lasts more than a few days. The doe if she has been successfully mated will take nearly ten months between the rut and giving birth to her young.  The roe deer uses a method known as delayed implantation this means the fertilised egg she carries inside her increases slowly in size, and from August till December it remains floating free in the maternal uterus. In mid December the embryo is still small about 20mm in length. Around Christmas time it then becomes attached to the wall of the uterus and it will then develop normally, to give birth towards the end of April through to July.

Hedgerows In Bloom.

                                                                        Hedgerows Are Blooming.

Our hedgerows are in full bloom with a mass of our native wild flowers. On my trip out to the countryside this weekend I could not help but notice all the different colours that were in the hedgerows at the present moment. There were the White flowers of the Blackberry ( Rubus fruitcosa. ) also known as the Bramble bush, Honeysuckle ( Lonicera. ) with their highly perfumed flowers in various shades of colours, White, Cream, Yellow and deep Purple. There was also our beautiful native wild Rose ( Rosa canina. ) the Dog Rose with it's Pink and White flowers. The flowers of the Elder Tree ( Sambucus. ) pretty lace like flower heads poking out through the hedgerow or standing tall above it. These are the main plants that could be seen but there are still other hedgerow plants in flower like the Foxglove, White and Pink Campion and I also spotted a Nettle Leaved Campanula growing in one place at the side of the road in a local hedgerow.

                                                                               The Bramble.

Bramble Bush.

Close Up Of Flower.

The Fruit.
( Blackberries. )

The Bramble Bush grows wild around our woodlands and in our hedgerows sending up its long arching canes that do not flower or set fruit in their first year. In their second year they produce flowers and fruit. The bush starts to flower in May and continues through to late summer. The fruits start to form July onwards and are at their best in late August and September. The flowers attract many bees and butterflies of which some are dependent on for their survival and hover flies. The fruit is also eaten by several species of birds particularly the Blackbird. The fruit is also eaten by a large number of mammals such as the Fox, Mice and others. The cane of the bush ( Bramble Stems ) when cut and dried, then split were used as a binding material for tying straw in basket work and was once used for making the traditional bee skips as used by many bee keepers in the past. The fruit also has many culinary uses such as making Blackberry Pie on its own or Blackberry and Apple. The fruit is also used for making jams, jelly and in the making of wine and brandy.

                                                                        Blackberry Brandy.

Here is a old recipe for making Blackberry Brandy.

Recipe.

1 Bottle of Brandy.
Enough blackberries to fill half a bottle.
A few Cloves 3 or 4.
Cinnamon to taste.
90 grams of Sugar.
1 Clean and sterilised glass bottle with a screw top.

The Method.

Crush the berries  lightly in a glass bowl.
Half fill your sterilised bottle with the crushed fruit.
Add the Cinnamon, cloves and sugar and fill with brandy.
Screw down the top tightly on bottle and leave for 3 or 4 months.
Shake the bottle everyday for the first 2 weeks and then once a month.
After 3 or 4 months or when clear strain into another bottle and enjoy.


                                                                             Honeysuckle.

The Honeysuckle ( Lonicera ) or sometimes also called Woodbine, is also an arching shrub or a twining vine in the family Caprifoliaceae. Most species are very sweetly scented and produce a sweet and edible nectar. The fruits are red, blue or black and are mildly poisonous so most fruits are only attractive to wildlife. There are 180 species of this plant worldwide with most of them being found in China, India, North America and Europe. The plant is valued in our gardens for its ability to quickly cover unsightly walls, fences and outbuildings and for its fragrance. Stick dressers look for Hazel, Holly and Ash that have been used by the honeysuckle to climb up because of the markings left by the plant, as it twists and climbs up the tree, always in a Clockwise Direction. The flowers attract butterflies, moths and other insects and the berries are loved by the birds. One moth in particular that is attracted to the flowers is the Humming Bird Hawk Moth, Macroglossum Stellatarum.

                  The Humming Bird
                          Hawkmoth.



                                                                     
                                                       

Honeysuckle.

Close up of flower.

                                                                                 Wild Rose.

The Dog Rose ( Rosa canina ) our native wild rose with its pink or white flowers is sprawling through our hedgerows filling them with colour. The plant may have got its common name the dog rose from its use during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries when it was used to treat the bite from a rabid dog. The other explanation for its name is the term "dog'  which was used to describe something that was 'worthless; presumably by its comparison to cultivated roses. The plant is very high in certain antioxidants, the fruit is noted for its high vitamin C levels and was used to make Rose Hip Syrup and also tea and marmalade. Rose Hip Syrup is made from the hips that the plant produces after it has finished flowering and it was used extensively for the production of vitamin C during the war period. The fine hairs found inside the hips were very popular with children who would use them for making itching powder.






The Dog Rose found in many of our hedgerows.





                                           

Close up of flower.

Close up of flower.

Rose Hips.

                                                                             The Elder Tree.

The Elder ( Sambucus ) was once regarded as one of the most magically powerful of all plants with many myths and folklore attached to it. It is a broadleaved tree and it is deciduous. It will grow in almost any soil except sand and it is native to the British Isles and can be found growing in many gardens, hedgerows and woodlands. The elder has many uses, for food and drink. Elderflower cordial makes a lovely refreshing drink on a hot summers day, 'champagne' can also be made from its flowers. The berries are used to make a delicious rich red wine. The flowers are also used to make a skin cleanser and a eye lotion by the cosmetic industry.

Elder in flower.

It is thought that it got its name from the Anglo-saxon word 'aeld ' meaning fire because the stems, when hollowed out were used to blow air down them into the centre of a fire like bellows. There is a lot of folklore and magical references made about the tree. It was thought that if you burned elder wood you could see the devil in the smoke and flames. If you planted one near to your house it would ward of the devil and other evil spirits. It was also said that the Fairy people who love music and merrymaking love the sound produced by instruments made from elder wood. The wood from elder is used to make whistles, pipes, chanters and other musical instruments, due to the branches containing a soft pithy core that is easily removed to create a hollow pipe of a pale, hard, easily polished wood ( it also makes good pea shooters ). It is said that the best time to catch or see a fairy is under the tree on Midsummer's Eve, when the fairy King and Queen could be seen passing by. The elder has many medicinal uses, its leaves are believed to have mildy narcotic influences which is why in old folklore superstition you were advised never to fall asleep under an elder tree in case you never woke up again. The aroma exuded by the leaves will repel flies, bunches of leaves were hung in the doorways of homes, livestock barns, in dairies to stop the milk from turning and a sprig of leaves was often employed to keep flies away from a horses head by tying it to its harness. The berries, leaves and the bark were used in the Harris Tweed industry. All dyes used came from the elder.

Elder berries.

                                                                          The Dog Wood.
                                                                        ( Cornus florida. )

This was quite a surprise finding this beautiful shrub growing in one of our local hedgerows. It can not be seen from the road as it is on a private estate where I had been given permission to take some photos of it. This is not a native plant, of which there are about 30 - 60 species found around the world and most of them are found in North America, China, Japan and the Southeastern United States is particularly rich in native species. The name 'dog tree' entered the English vocabulary in around 1548 by 1614 it had been changed to 'dogwood' it was also called the Hounds Tree in some parts of the country. It is thought that it got its name from using the slender stems for making "dags' ( daggers, skewers and arrows ). Another name for this tree is the Whipple tree. A whippletree is part of the harness in horse-drawn carts it was used to link the draw pole of the cart to the harness of the horses in file, these items still bear the name of the tree from which they were made.

A Whippletree for a three horse team.

Like the Dogrose it is high in vitamin C but it was seldom used in medicine. The timber of dogwood was highly prized for making loom shuttles, tool handles, roller skates, longbows, heads of golf clubs and as fine inlays and the very first kinds of laminated tennis rackets were also made from the wood after it had been cut in to thin strips.

Full length is about 50 yds.

The Hedge.

Close up of the flower.

Making Hay.

                                               
                                                                         Farmer's Make Hay.

The Old Way.

The art of Hay Making is the longest known method of conserving grass for winter stock feeding and man has been making it for the last six thousand years. This month see's the start of the hay making season and with this sudden hot spell, farmers all over the country are Making Hay While The Sun Shines, to quote an old saying.

To make hay successfully farmers are dependant on the weather as once the grass is cut it has to be throughly dried before it can be bailed and stored. Cutting usually takes place from mid June and onwards if the weather permits, just before the grasses and other plants start to flower however , many meadows are cut whilst in flower when there is a lot of pollen being produced by the plants ( hence Hay Fever ).

 

                                                                    Traditional Hay Meadows.

Cutting The Grass.

After Cutting.

When the weather looks to be settled for a period of several days or more the Hay Making Process can begin. Once the sun has burnt off the early morning due hay cutting begins, the mowers cut the grass leaving it in neat rows, to begin the drying out process. To help the crop to dry out the farmer will use an attachment that lifts and roughs up the cut rows of grass to allow the air in and enable it to dry out quicker in the sun, as much moisture as possible needs to be removed before baling the hay can take place and all this is a race against time, if the weather changes and it rains on the grass then the crop is lost.













                                                   Two Different Types Of Hay Turning Attachments.



Here we have a sequence of photos showing how it was done in the olden days and in some parts of the world, this is still how it is done today.

Cutting The Grass.

Turning It In To Rows.

Horse Drawn Mower.

A Horse Drawn Rake.

Carting It Away.

Once the grass has completely dried out which could take a few days or more then the process of bailing it begins. If the moisture content is to high at this point and the bales are put in to store then there is a high risk of the bales spontaneously combusting ( self igniting ).

                                                                        Balers Old And New.

At the mowing stage the grasses can contain up to 90% of their moisture, this will have to be reduced to between 12% and 20% before it can be safely stored. The use of modern equipment started as recently as only 50 years ago with the first modern bailer being made by John Deere in the United States of America. Before the introduction of modern farming equipment the Hay Harvest was almost a community event, labourers from neighbouring farms would all get together to help get this important crop in as quickly as possible, so it was all hands on deck with some of the local villagers and even school children helping out as it was very labour orientated to cut, rake, turn over and cart it away.

I have only touched briefly on this subject to give you a little insight, many books full of advice have been written over many years but the process it's self has changed little.