The lines in the heading are from Haymaking by John Clare – the full poem is printed below. We weren’t exactly haymaking but Steve Joul asked Friends of Adel Woods to help with raking off the mowings from the orchid meadow which he mowed earlier this week.
It was a beautiful morning and we had a great turnout of eleven volunteers, in addition to Steve himself. This was amazing bearing in mind that yesterday it rained all day, and for a period yesterday afternoon the rain was torrential, causing Nanny Beck to burst its banks and flood over the path down from the Slabbering Baby to Adel Beck.
Two Friends litter picked in the woods and did a fantastic job, joining the rest of us at the meadow in the late morning.
Those of us working on the meadow raked the mowings into heaps , while others valiantly loaded the mowings into wheelbarrows and transported them to two large compost heaps amongst the bordering trees.
We have done a lot of work on the meadow over the last few years – see Sunday, 13th December 2020: Steve Joul, five Friends and one dog went to widen a meadow!
Haymaking
John Clare – 1793-1864
‘Tis daytime and the red-complexioned sun
Was scarcely up ere blackbirds had begun
Along the meadow hedges here and there
To sing loud songs to the sweet-smelling air
Where breath of flowers and grass and happy cow
Fling o’er one’s senses streams of fragrance now
While in some pleasant nook the swain and maid
Lean o’er their rakes and loiter in the shade
Or bend a minute o’er the bridge and throw
Crumbs in their leisure to the fish below
– Hark at that happy shout – and song between
‘Tis pleasure’s birthday in her meadow scene.
What joy seems half so rich from pleasure won
As the loud laugh of maidens in the sun?
Friends of Adel Woods 