june | A Dartmoor Diary

By “The Photographer’s Assistant

The Spider from Mars……..the hub of the silage swather

Sunday on Dartmoor, a day of rest from the hard trials that the weather has been bringing. A day for a peaceful, content breakfast, keeping warm by the kitchen range; possibly even a day of doing nothing except pressing a button to see our recorded coverage of the Photographers beloved TT bike races.We wouldn’t even have dinner, a tradition now reserved for when the children visit. We might indulge in a large piece of chocolate cake, cream and scones while we pray that Guy Martin might win at a race last.

The bedroom window is open as it seems to be abnormally warm and it has just gone 8.45 am; the birds nests twitter pleasantly in the background. The sun peeps through the trees. Perfection! A rumbling in the distance, becoming closer, as I train my binoculars on the bird population. The noise is definitely getting closer, high pitched whine. It is on the back field. Summer is here! A chorus of machinery hails the sun!

The local farmer has been awaiting this moment. He has a contractor in to help with the silaging. The machinery is huge and it glows yellow and green as it makes short work of something that years ago would have taken days. I have lost the Photographer. I delay breakfast and sigh. The camera has gone and he is out there. Agricultural machinery! What more can I say! Almost by lunch time, the crop is cut and carted away in a team of big box trailers, leaving just the empty yellow green field. The next day I will take the dog to the field and we’ll enjoy the smell of cut grass and the dog will find new animals to chase.

Gobbling up the grass………..John Deere self propelled forage harvester

There has also been a chorus of mowers as lawns are at last tamed. There is lots of strimming. What man doesn’t like to get his strimmer out at the earliest opportunity! The birds think it’s all wonderful, all those worms and insects let fly through the universe. Don’t forget that if you are lucky enough to have a gardener, you can double the noise. If you are fit, you can join him with your shredder and make twice the noise. What fun!

It is Tuesday and it hasn’t stopped. There is log splitting, vegetable watering, and dog grooming outside on the lawn. We had a barbie. The Photographer cooked his summer hit of roast chicken and barbied veg. We feel as if we are Australians with bottled beer and cheap music. How wonderful, at last, to be out of the house, to be free to roast yourself to death, or tease the dog with the hose pipe, open the window and annoy the neighbours with Queens Best Hits while the neighbours hold their own with Vivaldi.

Go on, forget the housework and all the washing, phone calls and absurd luggage of life. Get out there and enjoy it. It could be later than you think. What‘s a little dust between friends!