Feeling Washed Out!

Today is a quiet, lazy and rather wet day. Overnight the rain started and hasn't let up at all since so we're stuck indoors wishing we could be outside getting on with various jobs. The worrying part is that this year has been so wet and not good for the crops, come winter there may be shortages and everyone in the area will be in the same boat, so prices will be driven up by short supplies and big demand. We are very lucky to have managed to get the 94 bales of lucerne off the field before the weather turned, but others face the prospect of the second cut of the year being ruined. 94 bales doesn't go far in winter time with all the animals we have so we're already planning on cutting down to ease the workload and make the feed last a little longer. Sorry piggys but some of you will be destined for our freezer!

Usually by this time of the year all of the grass has stopped growing and been scorched by the heat, giving the whole place a slightly golden look, crops have been cut and peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers etc are all producing well so we're eating a lot of salads. Tonight I'm making a pumpkin soup to warm us up a little, it's not exactly cold but with the dreary conditions outside you do tend to feel colder than normal. I won't be lighting the wood burner although I am wearing a long sleeved top and leggings instead of the summer wardrobe of shorts and a vest top!

It's days like this that are made for a good book and a comfy chair, but still I long to be in my garden pottering around as usual, listening to all of the sounds of summer and watching either the animals doing their own things or the mass of insects and local wildlife that are often found in my garden. Instead I'm indoors typing away and the only sound (apart from the tapping of the keyboard as I write this) is the never ending pitter patter of rain on the roof.  Strange that part of the reason we moved here was to be able to enjoy the long, hot summers that were rarely found back in the North East of England, and lately they've been basked in sunshine whilst we've been trudging about in mud, sludge and rain! Oh well, it can't always be sunshine, and for me at least, I know that the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence. At least for now the grass is actually still green here!