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Plough Lessons
The last few days have been spent working on the new plough. There is no need to use this latest implement for several weeks, but the field I intend to work with has been gnawed to the bone by sheep and has nothing left to offer. The weather has been fair and dry, and I… Continue reading
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Eight Years
When I sat down and wrote my first Working for Grouse article at the end of January 2010, I could hardly have guessed all that would follow. Eight years later, this blog continues to attract new visitors every month, and it has been a crucial means of keeping in touch with old friends and connecting… Continue reading
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Sheep and Trees
“The last 40 years under the Common Agricultural Policy have not done Scottish agriculture many favours”. It was very satisfying to hear these words from a representative of NFU Scotland. The subsidies may have provided a stable bedrock for Scottish farming, but they have stifled innovation and reduced some areas of agriculture into a repetitive… Continue reading
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The Ploughman Cometh
I’m always pleased to receive feedback from readers of this blog, but I must say that it’s equally gratifying to receive material support. Having followed my progress and been in touch for several years, a long-term reader recently contacted me with the offer of a plough. Knowing that I would soon be needing such an… Continue reading
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January Partridges
Partridges call on the edge of darkness. Spring is rousing them to frenzy, and the shapes of the small birds linger in the peripheries from dawn to dusk. The cocks have grown wattles which swell up their cheeks, and many have been fighting as the covey continues to crumble and disperse. Their vocabulary has expanded… Continue reading
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Striking a Balance
The last fortnight has been bogged down with illness and work. At the same time, words which would usually have been published here have been siphoned away to help with the construction of a book, and I am pleased to say that substantial progress is being made with that project. In the meantime, it’s worth… Continue reading
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Cold Steel
There’s a cold wind in the east. It’s the kind of wind that can pull the meat off your skull and freeze your tears while it does it. We unloaded steel beams as darkness fell. The eight foot girders are heavy, and I felt each burry, fresh-cut edge on my gloveless hands. This steel will… Continue reading
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“Stirring the Pot”
I never meant to keep cattle indoors. I wanted to work with low maintenance, traditional animals which prospered beneath a changing sky. But life intervened. We have been forced to convert the old garage into a mini cattle shed to house the new bull calf, and work is in progress to make this arrangement more… Continue reading
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Scraps of Spring
After months of silence, the hill has come within hours of death. The mechanism is depleted – wound down into rust. Smirring waves of rain and raking wind have left little in their wake except the sheep, which now seem yellow and foul against the wracks of snow. Sinister spindrift hisses on the coping stones… Continue reading
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Hayfield
The New Year has brought some exciting opportunities, and I am thrilled to have taken on a new hayfield down by the Solway. The field lies across six acres, but only four of these are good. The remaining two acres are literally crumbling into the sea, and the soil is poisoned with salt and estuary… Continue reading
About
“Shout on, Morgan. You’ll be nothing tomorrow”
Swn y galon fach yn torri, 1952
Also at: https://andtheyellowale.substack.com
Bog Myrtle & Peat 