Mary’s Cat is being followed and bombed by barn swallows wherever she goes. 
(Audrey close your eyes). Because these guys are about ready to take their first flights.
They are so patient these little birds. Out-growing their nest and watching the milking from above twice a day. Did I tell you that their nest is directly above the light in the milking parlour. There is always a swallow on duty. 
In case of premature toppling.
Daisy has returned to her usual self. Munching. 
These two are waiting for me to pay the grounds some attention. Fat chance.
With it being so dry, they are not getting a lot of use.
I know I had decided not to show you photos of the big pigs anymore, with them getting so close to the end of their stay. But this made me laugh. Out Loud. This photo is for you Mad. Over there at Mad Dog TV Dinners. 
This red pig was too fat to get up this tiny step, but he was just so hungry. I should not laugh but really this is an amusing shot. Since then, I have made him a new step by piling three old barn doors one on top of each other so he can get into the trailer and eat standing up. Like a good pig.
Good morning. TonTon is cleaned up. I think he must have only had a touch of the skunk, as dishwashing liquid did the trick this time. I have filed all your good advice for next time. Yesterday I took my trusty spade out into the field and grubbed thistles. Thistles in the field is the sign of a bad housekeeper. It is like a grubby front step.
But while I was out there, in the middle of the Dairy Mistress Field I watched with rising alarm as a monster of a tractor with a spray boom the size of a plane hanger roared into the fields around me and at top speed commenced to spray the soy beans across a hot wind. I had no time to get my animals in, or the washing off the line. Or myself in for that matter. And worse still absolutely no time to find a way to protect my bees. For that I would have had to lock them in the night before. The farmer promised me that he does not use pesticide. And swore he would warn me if he was going to. But this smelt very bad. All the other surrounding fields are being sprayed a fungicide with a top dresser (plane) and I know that smell. This spray was different. And we have monoculture GM cropping all around us for hundreds and hundreds of miles. There is nowhere to hide. But he could have WARNED me that they were going to spray!
If you stood up on the moon and looked down you would see us. We are that little dot. That little multi coloured dot. Desperately waving our miniscule sling shots. A tiny mote in the eye of manufactured green! This goliath we battle will not go down with one well placed stone. He has an army of genetically modified armoured ants that creep through every crack. It is like boxing shadows that have claws. He will just drench me in spray while roaring past in his air conditioned cab, staring straight ahead, eyes fixed on my beautiful horizon – which to him is shaped like a wallet.
My words were not printable as I put away my spade, hosed down my cows, paying extra attention to Daisy and her udder. I brought all the linen in off the clothesline for rewashing. I emptied all the water troughs, overturning the full heavy tubs with the strength of fury and set them to refill. The bees looked ok last night. But we all know that the bees out in the field yesterday will not have come home. I am not even going to discuss latent damage to an organism. You know it all. I am at a loss.
My accent gets quite British when I am angry so the message on his answering machine is very clipped. For some unknown reason he has not called me back to tell me exactly what we have been sprayed with. Fancy!
But there you are. This is the world I live in. I am doing the best I can and that will have to do. Heads up. Big breath. No whining. Remember to breathe out.
We will have a lovely day. (She says through clenched teeth, pounding at the keys) You too!
celi
On this day last year. Imagine this – it was hot then too! This post has my ten tips on how to survive a heatwave without air conditioning. This one is quite funny actually. I remember it made me laugh to write.
c
The Kitchen's Garden 
99 responses to “A Fat Farmy Day Drenched in Spray”
Oh that’s so frustrating! Your poor bees. But that pig photo is so funny! 🙂
It is isn’t it, I told John he should take that shot to work so they could see what a vegetarian pasture raised piggie looks like!! c
Fat. Very fat. But content. 🙂
Our house is constructed of large stones piled one on top of another. The walls are 50cms thick. with no cement or mortar to bind them, just earth, and there are no foundations – just earth. The walls that get the prevailing SW Atlantic weather have a coating of lime and sand, but the North wall is bare stone. Birds nest in every gap between the stones and at the moment our tiny courtyard is an aviary. As the next door farmer has retired, all the wild cats have left his barns so the birds are safe. Very fucking noisy, but safe:)
that would be a fantastic opening scene for some art nouveau indie movie. panning across all the nests in the walls of your house! what a place.. c
The conditions that prevail are those that exist. If you make no effort to change what exists, that’s what will prevail. Ply the bright spark spraying the fields with cheese or some ice cream, and then ask for a heads-up on his schedule when he’s nearing your house. Tell him, “Give me some warning, Bucko, and I’ll have some cheese for you,” or some other wily method.
And good morning to all on the farmy.
p.s., Viv is right; watch your blood pressure.
p.p.s, Kiss, kiss, hug, hug, oink, oink, bah, bah, moo, moo…
you are fabulous.. oink oink!! c
I’m so sorry to hear you’ve been sprayed. The audacity and the recklessness and the selfishness of some people knows no bounds. That’s so awful about your poor bees. And over here if the farms aren’t turning GM they’re being mined. Unless we all start to become self-sufficient we soon starve. The politicians are as bad as your neighbour! xx
Mining sounds terrible. it is a shame we cannot all have our own little farms, just imagine!! c
Oh, I hope you took a good shower—those sprays can make you quite ill too.
You know i kind of forgot until tea time, but i have a stonking heahache today c
I am sorry–here in crop duster land, I know those headaches.
That’s really bad news, the poor bees; I hope all is well with the rest of your farmy.
Apologies for the number of emails; the graphics have taken up too much space and I can only send one at a time…….I noticed one has disappeared into the ether when I tried to send two at a time!
That is fine elaine .. TT loved the chickpeas so we are doing well so far!! c
I love your idea of looking back at a year ago! It mad me go back and look at my posts from last July when I was doing ‘small stones’ – is that really a year ago?!
Lovely piggy picture. I hope you get your answer soon from the farmer
It is an interesting journal medium isn’t it.. i am enjoying going back too.. c
Coincidentally, there was a petition going around yesterday to stop a rider on an agricultural bill. The rider would allow Monsanto to plant their genetically-modified seeds even where there is an injunction against them if a farmer asks for them. I put it up on my Facebook page, here, in case anyone wants to sign. https://www.facebook.com/sharyn.dimmick?ref=profile
The law means nothing to these people.. what is the point of a law that has a rider. “Oh you can’t plant that here, unless of course you want to!” What rubbish.. c
Agreed. But I believe we the people have to let our “public servants” know that we deserve better, that we deserve good, clean non-chemical food, so I keep trying. If enough people object it will change: several communities in India have been able to throw Monsanto out — we could learn a few things from them. Americans need to wake up.
I assume you and John have had a “discussion” with this farmer-fellow about the spraying. Maybe it’s time to do it again. So sorry. I’m sure some days must feel like one step forward, two steps back, but there is that ONE STEP at a time, and what you’re doing is important. So hang in there! I admire your spunk. And I wish I could hear that message on his answering machine. : )
maybe he could be a little more considerate and take the winds into consideration before spraying all God’s land and creatures
Oh C, how horrible about the spraying – urgh!!!
Have a happy day.
🙂 Mandy
Bloody farmer spraying in the wind and not telling you (clipped British accent a la Brief Encounter going on now)…poor show indeed. Can understand how you feel. Priceless expression on Mary´s Cat´s Face and as for that piggy, at least he´s enjoying his last days 🙂
I can understand your horror at the spraying and poor you and your beasties powerless in the middle. Some years ago we travelled to Montana and witnessed crop-spraying by plane. Spraying with what I don’t know but the sheer scale of it made me gulp!
The pig was GREAT! If you don’t mind, I might have a go at drawing him – in the winter of course!
Christine
P.S. I’ve given you and Daisy a mention on my blog today, you may want to see it. It gives ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ a whole new meaning!
Well, that sucked, making your day a complete do-over. Like you had nothing better to do in this heat. I hope the bees were “at home” because of the heat and weren’t too badly affected. That porker pic is too funny!
Stay cool today, Celi.
Celi, I live a few hours southeast of you, and am also surrounded by cropland. There are a couple of problems in our situations. #1, often it is not the farmer who does the spraying. He contracts with the company that does this (FS in our area), and they show up unannounced. You need to contact the spray company manager. I sent mind a lovely brochure I got from the local apiary about how spraying is killing the bees, and how if he will notify me, I can lock my bees in the hive the night before. he has been VERY cooperative. It took several years though of my “intervention” to get this. Now, he calls the farmers, who calls me the night before. Once this spring they called the morning of, asking if they could spray unexpectedly, and I said no….no call, no spray. They honored their word.
The second, and worse IMHO problem, is not necessarily what the spraying. When crops are planted, farmers use “talc” to facilitate the easy glide of the seeds through the planting equipment. As they rub against the seeds, which are coated with herbicides (and sometimes pesticides), the chemicals adhere to the talc. The talc is then deposited in the soil, where it will remain for up to several years. Every time a tractor, etc navigates the field, and you see dust rising, the dust includes the talc, which your bees fly through. With the dry weather here this spring, there were times when huge clouds of dust were whipped up around here just by the wind. A very devastating sight reminiscent of the Dust Bowl days.
I fight an ongoing battle with the farmer, who (un)fortunately happens to be my brother :-).
I have been known to walk out and stand in front of the spraying machine and make them stop and tell me what they are spraying that day, and if it’s too windy, I’ll call them on it. They usually back down, because they can be liable for damage done by their actions. You have to take steps, and yes, you usually get better results being reasonable than antagonistic. I speak nicely then go back in the house and cut loose with how I *really* feel .
I’m a third generation farmers daughter, but at age 61 what I’m seeing in my own neighborhood is troubling me greatly. I see both sides: the farmers are trying to earn a living. They are not large corporate farms, but also multi-generational farm families. But the direction they’ve taken is devastating the land, I think.
Jan in mid-central Illinois
Goodness Jan this is a fantastic comment. I hope everyone reads it. You are right he was probably a contractor and i DO need to deal with them. What an excellent idea. And sadly we have heard of and read about the talc and John is convinced that that is what has been dissappearing our bees. It builds up and builds up and then poof.. overload.. It is devsstating and it is often family. Our land is owned by johns uncle and he has not visited it in twenty years.. does not care I guess.. how different we all are.. thank you so much for your comment jan, I would love to hear more from you.. you are one onto it lady!! c