One man went to mow ..

 So Tuesday was T-day or Tractor day. The field started looking as in the image below.

By the end of the day it had somewhat changed. I had two little helpers having tractor rides. It took all day almost none stop but I managed to get it all mowed. It felt a bit wrong mowing down the flowers which the bees and butterflies were happily dancing around. I did feel better however that both the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and the RSPB had said to me the most important thing you can do for wildlife is to ensure that the field gets a cut midsummer, once a year. I saw lots of small rodents running around in the cut grass. I think they were bank Voles, but my identification of small mammals is not stunning. We certainly have plenty of them anyway.

I am slightly dissapointed in the difference in the field in the before and after shots. On the ground the difference is huge. I think from above the difference between brown grass growing and brown grass having been chopped is a subtle one.

We went to visit our new piglets at the weekend. They are very small and clearly not yet weaned. We are going to have one Gloucester Old Spot, Tamworth Cross and one Gloucester Old Spot Saddleback cross. They are very small. I hope we can manage to keep them in their enclosure as they can sneak under a pretty small gap.On the picture below the pigs are going to be based around the tree that can be seen behind the hen house. Those with good eyes may be able to see some fence posts there.

So now the field is clear the polytunnel can go up and I think I may start that tomorrow. Our field still has the old ridge and furrows in which might make it a little tricky. Hopefully we won't have to move too much soil.
The herb garden is now complete and the Tomatoes are doing well so we will actually have some produce soon. We do of course have the egg supply. We could still do with a few more chickens to help with that though. Lastly the kids and I did the Big Butterfly count the other day in the field (before it was mowed). If you haven't done it yet perhaps give it a try. We can even identify a few butterflies now.