The joys of living in the countryside!

Oh my goodness,good luck with the clean up.

Wow, that's amazing! That didn't happen when they cut it by hand (showing my age again...) We have mainly cattle round here with a bit of rape and potatoes so its mostly silage and hay - so glad we don't have that problem. happily it will soon be over!

Funny...we don't seem to get that here. But then it's never that dry! lol! We have Wheat behind us and I am dreading them cutting it as it looks utterly beautiful. But that day is certain to come soon. We always get littered with straw, but I don't recall seeing clouds of dust like that.....I'll let you know!

All done now, I haven't been out to see if they left the straw to bale. My nice man who brings me free wood-chippings said the mess was because they had a shredder on the back to chop the straw small, and will then presumably just plough it in.
OH arrived home and wanted to know what had happened to the pond, into his waders and trying to scoop it off the top, best of luck with that, but it is clearing a bit.
I had to wipe the washing whirly thing down as it was covered with dust and all the cobwebs everywhere could be seen as they were dusty too.
I hope you don't get the dust Karen, we get straw when it's left on the field. Last year we had a little mini tornado (I suppose) and just our short bit of road and three gardens had heaps of straw blown into the gardens and lines of it on the road. Just for about 50ft, no more - weird. We garnered over a bales worth from the tops of the trees and the lawn, so Boris was pleased!
Just for a few hours Meadowland, then later we might get straw along the road from the huge lorries carting it, I think a lot of it goes off to Wales for animals, as they don't have enough arable there.
I can remember the reapers Stera and hayricks in the fields, later oblong bales left to stand in piles until they were made into stacks, we used to play in the fields.
Last round of cutting was to see the rabbits run, I'll go no further with that. I remember taking a field mouse home and letting it go in the conservatory, much to my Mother's disgust! Happy days, don't think of setting foot in a field these days!

The countryside is far from idyllic ! You have to live there to know.

It must be very frustrating.....all that dust. My garden gets a fluffy coat of dandelion seeds in spring. The wind sends them in our direction from an open space planted with wild flowers. I hate it.

Our fields not been cut yet - hope they don't use the shredder, makes enough mess as it is.
Later it'll be the fluffy seeds from the poplar trees, that is just the same as a million dandelions all being blown at once over several days.

I might moan ocassionally Hywel, but wouldn't want to live anywhere else. A friend was telling me about neighbours who had moved into the countryside, then moaned about the mud on the roads, the tractors, the cockerels, the pig farm, lack of footpaths, no lighting and all the other things that make up the countryside!

I know what you mean Linda, we have the fields each side with nettles, thistles and such along our fence, all of which seed our way!

I'd forgotten about Poplars GF! Thinking back we used to live where there were loads and as you say the seeds made a fluffy mass and stuck to everything!

No I know what you mean. I wouldn't want to live in a town.

I tried living in town for a while but while it was more convenient for shops, doctors etc I felt so hemmed in, I much prefer the inconvenient rural location.

Gosh, that was a lot of dust, 2 days ago they where doing the fields near us but nothing like that. I do get the hay and straw all around my front wall and blocking the drain thing going across my drive entrance as it is very agricultural around here and every Wednesday our local town has a livestock market so get straw off the lorrys all year round but as you all say, part of living rurally. I also know people who move to a rural location then can't cope with it. I think these TV programmes don't help. People buy a house down some tiny lane not thinking about it getting muddy or snowed in in winter and then they can't cope. Hope your pond has cleared.

Oh gosh I wouldn't have been able to breathe if I lived near there, I have the best of both worlds, I live right on the edge of my town, out the gate, down the hill and turn left, five mins walk and I'm in the countryside.....

Oops! I hit the wrong button

Oh my goodness, that looks dreadful. Thankfully at least it's for only a brief time not that often.

Honeysuckle if it happens again you might like to try the trick I used to use to get duckweed to the edge of the pond so I could reach it. Remembering school physics lessons on surface tension I put a little drop of washing up liquid on the end of a finger and just touched it into the water. That spot immediately had reduced surface tension and the duckweed shot away from it and was easier to reach. It would only work with a smallish pond though, unless you could put the liquid on something long that would reach to the middle..

Stera, that reminded me that we do the same thing to make chemical stick to weeds that have a waxy or hairy coating. One drop in a watering can or sprayer for things like docks or nettles will break the surface tension.

Amazing isn't it? I've seen it recommended for weedkiller on ivy but never tried it.

We ought to have a tips page, don't you think.

There don't seem to be any techies left to carry out these good ideas. Pity isn't it?

Stera, Yes, it is a pity especially as there are new people seeking advice daily on Goy, it could be so much more interactive.