With the grass
turning yellow and a nip in the morning air, it's plain that we're heading for
Autumn already. One of our March/April jobs on the smallholding is to cut the
grass and make fire-breaks. We started early this year as Nature is clearly
indicating she has plans for an early Winter!
Tappeltjie cleaning
under the fences with a panga.
After the contractor has finished the basic job
of cutting all the fields, it's time for us to trim under the fences and get closer
to walls and other structures. Where the tractor cannot be used it is done by
hand with a panga.
I just love watching
them work and the smell of the freshly-cut grass is like no
other in this world!
Following the tractor around, I also get a chance to 'rescue' small wildlife and flowers, giving the driver strict instructions to 'go around' it. This wildflower was blowing around briskly in the breeze and I had to hold it still to get a shot.
::
Besides clearing up a
possible fire hazard, I'm thrilled by the annual cut as I get to replenish my
stock of baled grass for the chicken coop. I really don't use that much so
twenty bales lasts me the whole year. The contractor takes the rest of the harvest, which is about 200 bales in total.
By this time of the
year, the Fan-tiled Cisticolas (Cisticola juncidis - Landeryklopkloppie
in Afrikaans) have finished breeding. They hang their tiny nests in the
tall grass by bunching clumps together and building their little cups half-way
up the stems. Quite a job to find them in the tall grass and I never actually
look for the nests as the Cisticolas are very shy and easily abandon a
disturbed nest. I'll miss their constant twittering as they do their dipping
flight above the tall grass.
(Pic from Photo.net)
But the shorter grass
makes way for other wildlife - the Guinea fowl pass through more often and the
Crowned Plovers move in and start choosing nesting sites. It's one of my great
joys watching their tiny, long-legged little offspring following the parents
around in Winter, taking tit-bits pointed out to them.
::
