Hay Meadows and Harvesting

Last Saturday I went to Ravenstonedale near Kirkby Stephen. In the village stream there were masses of golden water buttercups, a delight too see. The leaf of the water buttercup is like a folded heart.

Glorious gold

Pleated hearts

The hay meadows I had come to see were at Kilnmire Farm on the outskirts of the village. They were available to view as part of the Farming Landscapes project. The meadow is cut mid July and is fed to the farm animals.

How many flowers and grasses can you see, you need to look closely

The dominant flowers appeared to be buttercups and red clover and as you looked they appeared though a haze created by the grasses.

A lovely contrast of colour

There are about 24 different types of grasses in the meadows

 
You needed to get down to the height of the meadow to appreciate the intricate number of flowers growing.

It was a rare delight to walk through the meadow

There was ragged robin.

Lovely spiky ragged robin

Tiny little eyebright.

Tiny white eyebright twinkling through the vegetation

Beautiful smooth Hawk's Beard. I love the stumpy serrated petals.

Look at the radiating petal formation

Sphagnum moss.

Used for flower arranging and Bear Grylls says you can squeeze it to get moisture from it. ( I think it needs to rain first)

A field barn on the edge of the meadow.

Limestone barn

Wild flowers always seem to compliment each other.

Delightful

Back in home I have been harvesting the first of my new potatoes that I have grown in a grow bag. The variety is Epicure and they taste delicious and retain their shape when boiled.

So tasty you could eat them like sweets

For my Sunday lunch all the vegetable were home grown.

Green cabbage, carrots, potatoes and spinach

I have started to pick the red and blackcurrants as they are just beginning to ripen.

Fiddly to pick but taste delicious

I have grown several varieties of nasturtium. They range in colour from dark red, oranges and milkmaid which is a creamy yellow.

I use the seeds as capers in my pickles

A marbled nasturtium

We have had some hot sunny days and whilst cloud gazing I saw a hole in the cloud. This reminded me of Spike Milligan's poem:
'There is a hole in the sky where the rain gets in, the hole in small that's why rain is thin.'

Holes of various sizes

My husband was given a present of a hot air balloon flight. Seeing the deflated balloon in a trailer and then seeing it inflate was fascinating.

The balloon basket containing the balloon

Unravelling the balloon

A giant chocolate orange 

Ready to launch

The judging is today for Cumbria in Bloom so I will be in the Artful Garden this morning. I have made some more artwork to celebrate the event which will be on next week's blog.