The Hay Barn....................

Anyone who has been reading my blogs will know that the joy of my youth was spending time on my friends farm. I think Margaret and I met when we were about 4 or 5. In any case it was when we began school. She lived on a farm a few miles out in the country, it's drive was 1/2 mile long to reach the road. There she had to get a bus to the village and then walk to my house. This was because the bus came much earlier than school started. So we spent just about every day together because I would go to her house on weekend. When we got old enough to date, then the roles reversed and she spent the time at my house so we could go out on weekends. She was as close to a sister to me as I could get. This is me aged about 15 or maybe 16 sitting on the gate to the sheeps field. One of our special places to play was the hay barn. We loved it in there. We could climb the bales for one thing but we could also swing from the rafters and play Tarzan. I suppose these days it would be Spiderman. The barn was huge and never empty that I recall. There was a window looking out over the woods and fields, not really a window but the hole that bales were lifted up and down with one of those huge hooks and pullies. We would sit there when it rained and look out wishing we could be out there. Very often we found kittens hidden there. We would catch them best we could and hide them from the dad. He would drown any that he found prior to the eyes being opened. So if we could hide them for awhile we were all set. We would put a blanket or something for them and put bales all around, the fear was that when really small they could fall between the bales never to be seen again. This is similar to our barn but an American version no doubt. Our barns were the real old ones, hand made from sturdy oak with huge beams. That was why we dare swing from them and walk across them. The free range chickens also took a liking to the hay barn and so sometimes we found eggs, or sometimes chicks. We got to raise any chicks we found and the kids got the egg money from them later to spend. One way for the Dryden kids to get pcket money. I have very very fond memories of laying in that hay in that huge old barn and I bet the other kids do too..........nothing like it these days.

Farm Days...............

Some of my best memories were built around my friends farm. My friend Margaret who I have known since I started school lived at Grove Farm in the hamlet of Bidwell. Houghton Regis in those days was a simple farm community. A beautiful church and a few shops and several pubs. I remember when there were gas lights in the streets.
Anyway, I first met Margaret when I started school. She would come from the farm on the bus and walk to my house. The bus came early and so she waited at my house and went to school with me. In the summer holidays and weekends I would go to her house down on the farm. It seems like it was endless summer. Of course it was not. We had a few chores to do but they were fun. Collecting eggs was like playing hunt the thimble or like an Easter egg hunt. The chickens had the run of the farm and layed anywhere they could. So it would be time consuming for an adult to hunt down the eggs. Some of the chickens did use the nesting boxes so that was the easy part. I learned how to get the eggs from under grumpy hens without getting pecked.

(picture from Vintage garden gal)
I do remember on one occasion getting a handful of chicken tail feathers. Sometimes the hens laid eggs and we didn't find them. Then we would find baby chicks. If we caught them and raised them then they were ours. If they ended up laying eggs then we got egg money (well Margaret did)
I remember one chicken I was after her chicks among stinging nettles. Well chickens I thought were quite placid creatures but apparently not when defending their chicks. She came at me feet first (they have long claws) and beak. Not fun.
We loved the hay stack and made dens in it and climbed all over it. Quite often we would find a cat had her kittens there and so we would hide them from Mr Dryden. He would drown new born kittens before they opened their eyes. We would hide them until they were too big to drown. There were a dozen cats at any given time. They would keep rodents at bay. We loved it when we had babies to play with. The cats would hang out around the dairy where they kept all the feed in bins. It was no longer a functioning dairy although I remember cows being kept in there at one time, but later it was the feed barn.


( kitten picture from Frenchbednbreakfast.com)
I do remember some rainy days. We would play in the hay barn. After the hay was dried out it could be stored in the barn. You can not store it damp, it can combust. Anyway. We tied ropes to the beams and played Tarzan. Swinging and dropping into the hay. Walking up on the high beams and I am sure it was dangerous but we never got hurt and didn't think of it.
Then there were the animals.............ah!!! The best part. Now I do not know how I could have been raised in the country, and around a farm and not put two and two together but I didn't. The baby cows were raised and sent off to market. The sheep were raised and shorn and dipped and then off they would go to market. They had babies so I am not sure how long they were raised on the farm. I do remember the abandoned babies being hand raised in the house by the fire. We learned how to induce them to suckle and would hold them in our laps feeding them. When market day came off they went and we would wave bye bye and not think about the fact that they would be lamb chops.


(lamb picture from photobucket)
I actually got to see a lamb being born. It was awesome. Margarets dad had taken the mum into the barn and brought her out as she was about to give birth. I think she needed help. Anyway. I learned so much without really being taught just by observing things. I will write more in another post but this is all for now.

November walk in the Woods...............

Today is Saturday November 5th. I could not believe what a wonderful day it was again. What a great Autumn it has been so far this year. I was going to do so much in the house today, and get started on my sewing and other things but I could not stand to loose out on such a wonderful day. So Laura and Reina came over and we went for a walk in the woods. We went to the park so the kids could play on the swings after our hike. We began by hiking off onto the nearby trails and into the woods.



Gerry seemed to think it was cold but once we got into the trees the coats and hats came off. Reina and Tristen were oblivious to the nip in the air.



By the time we had gone up and down a few hills Laura and I were taking off coats and Tristen dumped his hat. The trail we chose goes past two ponds. I think they have names but I don't know what the names are. Anyway, this family of ducks were preening on this pond.





We passed on by without disturbing them and went to take a look at the other larger pond. This little chap was busy. A small red squirrel.



Then we walked for awhile besides the other pond in the hope of seeing some bird life. We saw this cute little nest that was now empty and abandoned. What a work of art it is, I would have taken it home but decided it looked nice where it was and maybe someone may use it again next year.



Here are the boys looking out over the lake/pond. It was about that time that Gerry swallowed a bug and we were laughing so hard at the fuss he was making. I didn't get a good picture or I would have put it on Facebook.



Back into the woods for a little way up the trail and then we heard the cows in the fields across the pond. There is a farm there where I used to get Lady's hay. The cows were enjoying some time in the fields and talking to each other in the afternoon sun.







We came back out by the lake/pond again and low and behold .......Sandhill Cranes.
The edge of the pond was still frozen from this mornings cold beginnings.






We left again and went back to the trail, it was uphill all the way back to the park. Laura and I left Gerry and the kids to play for awhile. We went back into the woods and tried to sneak up behind the cranes on the other side. First off we saw Woody Woodpecker looking for grubs. Pileated
Woodpeckers are quite impressive.



We managed to get a little closer to the Sandhill cranes but the pictures were not much better than from the other angle, thats OK more exercize for us. I must remember when walking in the woods to look up as well as looking down. With my vision being impaired now my perspective is all off. I use the smaller trees to grab to help me on slopes and I find they are not as close as they seem. While working that out I forget to also look up at the low hanging branches. No matter.........we did get to see the cranes. The grasses by the edge were also very pretty.






Then it was back up the hill again, I really must get in shape........huff puff.......