Good morning friends. I’ve been thinking about old sayings, and one in particular this week. There is an old English saying: ”Ne’er cast a clout ’til May be out.” Looking at the weather forecast for the coming week, I recognise the truth in such a statement.
A clout, in case you’re wondering, is a word for winter clothing, and so the saying goes: Don’t shed your winter clothes before the cold weather is past. The second part of the statement is a bit more ambiguous. Various sources suggest that we should take May to mean the month of May. The coming week’s forecast for gale force winds in excess of 50 miles an hour certainly gives this a ring of truth. But many other sources suggest that we should take May to mean the May Flower, the beautiful white flowers of the Hawthorn bush, which typically appear from the Middle of May. If this is the case, May is certainly out here on the farm. All along the Back Road birds are merrily chirping away amongst the clouds of white flowers.
Come Autumn, these trees will be covered in red berries, perfect for helping the birds get through the winter, but that’s a ways away yet, so let’s come back to spring. The days are lengthening, the crops are growing away nicely,
and the calves are out. It’s the calves’ first time out to the pasture, and so we’ve let them out to the House Field so we can keep an eye on them. This has provided much hilarity for the wee farmer over the last few days, as he can see them out of all of the windows. The calves are full of high spirits, as likely to jump straight in the air with their legs flying as to come for a nosey when the camera’s out.
A storm is brewing, so the indoor veg will need to wait a few more days to be planted out. We’ll batten down the hatches, and search out the wooly hats, because as we say here in Scotland: There’s no bad weather, only the wrong clothing! Ta-Ra the noo.
How the Cheese Crumbles and Other Tales from the Farm 