I borrowed the nextdoor farmers new Manitou with bucket grab and did a spot of gardening yesterday, it took me 6 hours and quite a bit of diesel, but I now have a bit of pasture back which the farmer is going to rotavate for me and I can then cut next year with the ride on mower.
He has to put field drains in to let the field next door drain off as it’s getting boggy and I will have to put a new fence up as well, he is happy as well as there is a huge well in the bottom corner he can use for watering the field that I had forgotten about.
I have still got a bit of clearing to do today, but happy but a bit knackered today.
It was fun , I now have quite a big pile of undergrowth to get rid of as well .
The well is quite big and I had completely forgotten about it, I will have to do a bit of investigation with it as I have always had two feeds on the panel in the barn marked well 1&2, 1 works the pump in the orchard well and 2 did not seem to do anything, I think because the new well is just by the river it feeds the orchard well to keep it topped up, so it will be a test session with my meter and the valves on the pipes to see what happens, it might be quite useful.
Already sorted, the mayor came down for a nosey to see what I was up to
I could have done what most do including the deputy mayor and wait until a Sunday
There was a nasty incident when someone’s “rogue” bonfire ended up setting a whole line of trees ablaze… and I watched from my terrace (thankfully a good distance away) as the pompiers et al tried to sort things out.
Accidents happen, all we can do it try to minimize the chances…
3 days is the required notice period, I seem to recall… and then it’s only if it’s “the right time”. Folk take risks, we all do/have done from time to time… but it’s so easy to do things properly in many instances, that I can’t see why one would do the other thing…
Hum.
It looks almost as though someone put something in the well they didn’t want to.be found, then deliberately grew that mound of vegetation over it…??
Betsy is my gaffer she is alway around which can be a pest at times, the well is full and with clear water, I knew it was there but it was really buried under a carpet of brambles, it’s not now though
You’re lucky. Ours (sadly) is full of rubbish - great pieces of metal, slabs of concrete and no water. When we win the lotto we’ll get someone to come and dowse it and show us where the water has gone.
And we’ll get someone who knows what they are doing to clear it. We’ve been warned that ammunition was sometimes hidden down dry wells. I would love to have a well full with clear water.
I checked the well today and it is the same size as the well in the orchard and has the same 3m depth.
I now have to work out what I am going to use for the donkeys and get it fenced in over the winter, whether to put a byre in the hanger or use the one at the end of the hanger which I have put a new corrugated roof on, I have cleared the old pens and outbuildings of brambles which were 6ft high as well.
I have finished everything for now, the farmer now has to put the new field drains in and rotavate the ground for me to level.
I still have a few trees to fell which I should get done this weekend hopefully, the total area done is basically the green strip in front of the grey roofed hanger/pens
in the picture.
Well done.
, I now have quite a big pile of undergrowth to get rid of as well 
.
