A beautiful blue clear sky greeted Jake and his father Charlie as they fought their way out through the back door of the old farmhouse. The snow was so bright it made them both squint heavily until their eyes had adjusted to the bright light. The snow was around 3 feet deep all over and was very hard to walk in, it came over the top of Jake's wellington boots and made his feet cold almost instantly. The snow was very powdery and soft, it managed to get into Jake's clothes, down inside his collar and up his sleeves and when the breeze blew it flew up into Jake's face which soon started to sting, it would be a very hard morning for young Jake and his father.
At the first field they came to Jake untied the old twine that always kept the gate firmly shut so that he and Charlie could carry the bundles of hay through to the by now very hungry sheep, but having untied the twine Jake found the gate almost impossible to move, he pushed hard against it but just slipped on the snow that compacted under his feet, Charlie came over at once and they both lent into the gate and eventually opened it pushing the snow up into a line behind the gate as they pushed, the sheep were waiting very impatiently by now and they almost knocked Jake over as they ran up to him to get their fill of the dry dusty hay that they had brought from the barn. Jake stood and looked around the flock as his father counted them, they both checked that the animals were walking OK and that they were all present, Jake also took this brief respite to glance around and look at the rest of the fields and the old farm, everywhere he looked it was white over, even the hedgerows had disappeared in some places, but he could make them out mostly, like crazy paving across the countryside dotted with small holdings that could be seen for miles in this clear weather aided by the long wisp's of chimney smoke floating upwards from the cottages and farmhouses, for a brief moment Jake thought about that huge warm fire at home and how wonderful it would be if he could just sit by it even for a minute or two, but sadly it was not to be just yet, "better give me a hand shutting this gate young Jake" said Charlie in a matter of fact voice, Charlie was a man of few words but when he spoke it was usually worth listening to, in fact advisable, so Jake immediately ran over and helped Charlie push the gate until it clanged against the old oak post and Jake proceeded to re-tie the old "bindertwine" around the gate and the post. "Bindertwine" was so called as it was a multi-twined string that actually looked like grass itself, indeed at one point in time it was made up of reed grass or "bents" the long straight yellowing grasses you sometimes see in a green field. They were intertwined and used to tie up the sheaf's of hay that were cut and processed by an old static machine called a "binder" hence the name "bindertwine".
As they walked to the next field to feed the sheep Jake asked "Dad, will it snow again tomorrow?"
Charlie replied "the sky is very blue Jake, i would have thought it's more likely to freeze" the sight of clouds building up in the distance said that Charlie may not have all the answers but Jake was happy to go with what his dad had told him so they set about feeding the rest of the sheep.
By dinnertime the feeding had all been done and the ice all knocked off the drinking tanks for all the animals on the farm and the two weary farm workers headed for the warmth of the farm house and a welcome break,but as usual Jake had one more chore to do before dinner and that was to collect the eggs off the chickens, Jake went in to the chicken hut and there he found the majority of birds sat in the warmth of their stalls, preferring that to going outside, chickens find snow very irritating as they are a bird that likes to scratch the ground and ferret for bugs and spare corn hulls both of which were a good 3 feet underground so the inside of the hut was a firm favourite for today. Jake moved the birds gently to one side and felt underneath them for the warm eggs they had delivered during the night, the bird's seldom bothered making too much fuss as it was a daily occurrence seeing Jake but an odd peck on the hand every now and then was quite regular and sometimes the peck was even hard enough to draw blood, but being a smart lad with all animals Jake knew which ones were liable to peck and hurt so he would shoo them out of the stall before grabbing the eggs, it wasn't the best way to gather the eggs though as the chickens would kick and break them as they scrambled (excuse the pun) to leave their stalls, all this was a very far cry from today's mass egg farming methods, but effective none the less.
With a basket full of fresh laid eggs and an empty belly Jake headed for the farmhouse, he opened the door and immediately the warmth of the old fire hit him as he walked in, Jake kicked off his wellington boots and his wet feet made footstep marks across the cold concrete floor of the hallway, "get those wet socks off Jake!" mum cried "You will catch your death with feet as wet as that!" she scolded, "sorry mum" Jake said apologetically, the snow keeps going over the top of my wellies, "well tie the tops with some bindertwine when you go out again" said Mum..."cool" thought Jake, that was a great idea!
"How hungry are you?" his mum cried out as Jake was tugging as hard as he could at his soaking wet socks, trying to peel them off his feet, "my belly thinks my throat has been cut Mum" Jake cried out, "well get in here and have some of this bread and cheese with some of my home made chutney, we can soon alter that" she smiled knowingly at Charlie and winked her eye. Jake sat down at the table and as always, a small prayer was said before they all tucked in heartily, little brother Sam who was too young as yet to be any help on the farm sat next to Jake with a bottle of milk and some rusks that had been soaked in milk and broken up by his mum Janet, he was a bit spoilt compared to Jake's harder upbringing but Jake loved his little brother all the same.
After dinner Jake was allowed to play for a while, of course with the weather conditions like they were then snowmen and snowballs were the order of the day, the sheepdog going crazy as Jake threw snowballs at him that disintegrated the moment he caught them, then he spent a few seconds trying to find what Jake had thrown before Jake had rolled up another one to do the same thing again, the poor dog was worn out in minutes!. Jakes other love was for horses and the old mare that Charlie used in the fields was always cared for and ridden by Jake, he strolled over to the stable and checked her water trough was not frozen over and unravelled some of the sweeter dust free hay for his favourite animal on the farm, He rubbed her down as she chomped on the hay, pausing now and then to shake her head and main in appreciation, Jake had a passion for all animals but he was very good with horses in particular, he had been riding from a very early age, Charlie sitting him up on the mare's back when he was barely a toddler, Jake was at home with horses and this would be a passion he would keep throughout his life. On finishing tending the old mares needs Jake stepped out of the stable and noticed something had changed, the bright sunlight had disappeared and in place of the previous blue sky there were clouds gathering, they looked familiar clouds to Jake who had seen snow clouds gathering many times on this remote hillside location. Jake knew snow would once again be coming and it would promise to make the following day even more of a task for himself, Charlie and the animals scattered around the small holding.
At the first field they came to Jake untied the old twine that always kept the gate firmly shut so that he and Charlie could carry the bundles of hay through to the by now very hungry sheep, but having untied the twine Jake found the gate almost impossible to move, he pushed hard against it but just slipped on the snow that compacted under his feet, Charlie came over at once and they both lent into the gate and eventually opened it pushing the snow up into a line behind the gate as they pushed, the sheep were waiting very impatiently by now and they almost knocked Jake over as they ran up to him to get their fill of the dry dusty hay that they had brought from the barn. Jake stood and looked around the flock as his father counted them, they both checked that the animals were walking OK and that they were all present, Jake also took this brief respite to glance around and look at the rest of the fields and the old farm, everywhere he looked it was white over, even the hedgerows had disappeared in some places, but he could make them out mostly, like crazy paving across the countryside dotted with small holdings that could be seen for miles in this clear weather aided by the long wisp's of chimney smoke floating upwards from the cottages and farmhouses, for a brief moment Jake thought about that huge warm fire at home and how wonderful it would be if he could just sit by it even for a minute or two, but sadly it was not to be just yet, "better give me a hand shutting this gate young Jake" said Charlie in a matter of fact voice, Charlie was a man of few words but when he spoke it was usually worth listening to, in fact advisable, so Jake immediately ran over and helped Charlie push the gate until it clanged against the old oak post and Jake proceeded to re-tie the old "bindertwine" around the gate and the post. "Bindertwine" was so called as it was a multi-twined string that actually looked like grass itself, indeed at one point in time it was made up of reed grass or "bents" the long straight yellowing grasses you sometimes see in a green field. They were intertwined and used to tie up the sheaf's of hay that were cut and processed by an old static machine called a "binder" hence the name "bindertwine".
As they walked to the next field to feed the sheep Jake asked "Dad, will it snow again tomorrow?"
Charlie replied "the sky is very blue Jake, i would have thought it's more likely to freeze" the sight of clouds building up in the distance said that Charlie may not have all the answers but Jake was happy to go with what his dad had told him so they set about feeding the rest of the sheep.
By dinnertime the feeding had all been done and the ice all knocked off the drinking tanks for all the animals on the farm and the two weary farm workers headed for the warmth of the farm house and a welcome break,but as usual Jake had one more chore to do before dinner and that was to collect the eggs off the chickens, Jake went in to the chicken hut and there he found the majority of birds sat in the warmth of their stalls, preferring that to going outside, chickens find snow very irritating as they are a bird that likes to scratch the ground and ferret for bugs and spare corn hulls both of which were a good 3 feet underground so the inside of the hut was a firm favourite for today. Jake moved the birds gently to one side and felt underneath them for the warm eggs they had delivered during the night, the bird's seldom bothered making too much fuss as it was a daily occurrence seeing Jake but an odd peck on the hand every now and then was quite regular and sometimes the peck was even hard enough to draw blood, but being a smart lad with all animals Jake knew which ones were liable to peck and hurt so he would shoo them out of the stall before grabbing the eggs, it wasn't the best way to gather the eggs though as the chickens would kick and break them as they scrambled (excuse the pun) to leave their stalls, all this was a very far cry from today's mass egg farming methods, but effective none the less.
With a basket full of fresh laid eggs and an empty belly Jake headed for the farmhouse, he opened the door and immediately the warmth of the old fire hit him as he walked in, Jake kicked off his wellington boots and his wet feet made footstep marks across the cold concrete floor of the hallway, "get those wet socks off Jake!" mum cried "You will catch your death with feet as wet as that!" she scolded, "sorry mum" Jake said apologetically, the snow keeps going over the top of my wellies, "well tie the tops with some bindertwine when you go out again" said Mum..."cool" thought Jake, that was a great idea!
"How hungry are you?" his mum cried out as Jake was tugging as hard as he could at his soaking wet socks, trying to peel them off his feet, "my belly thinks my throat has been cut Mum" Jake cried out, "well get in here and have some of this bread and cheese with some of my home made chutney, we can soon alter that" she smiled knowingly at Charlie and winked her eye. Jake sat down at the table and as always, a small prayer was said before they all tucked in heartily, little brother Sam who was too young as yet to be any help on the farm sat next to Jake with a bottle of milk and some rusks that had been soaked in milk and broken up by his mum Janet, he was a bit spoilt compared to Jake's harder upbringing but Jake loved his little brother all the same.
After dinner Jake was allowed to play for a while, of course with the weather conditions like they were then snowmen and snowballs were the order of the day, the sheepdog going crazy as Jake threw snowballs at him that disintegrated the moment he caught them, then he spent a few seconds trying to find what Jake had thrown before Jake had rolled up another one to do the same thing again, the poor dog was worn out in minutes!. Jakes other love was for horses and the old mare that Charlie used in the fields was always cared for and ridden by Jake, he strolled over to the stable and checked her water trough was not frozen over and unravelled some of the sweeter dust free hay for his favourite animal on the farm, He rubbed her down as she chomped on the hay, pausing now and then to shake her head and main in appreciation, Jake had a passion for all animals but he was very good with horses in particular, he had been riding from a very early age, Charlie sitting him up on the mare's back when he was barely a toddler, Jake was at home with horses and this would be a passion he would keep throughout his life. On finishing tending the old mares needs Jake stepped out of the stable and noticed something had changed, the bright sunlight had disappeared and in place of the previous blue sky there were clouds gathering, they looked familiar clouds to Jake who had seen snow clouds gathering many times on this remote hillside location. Jake knew snow would once again be coming and it would promise to make the following day even more of a task for himself, Charlie and the animals scattered around the small holding.
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