Thursday 23 June 2011

Pulling teeth and drawing blood

A dentist appointment* and a blood donation session in the days when Ofsted visited has become my metaphor for the experience.

So, yesterday I, with other governors, had the Interview, and I've been in this afternoon to hear the verdict - which I am not at liberty to tell you, at present, so please don't ask or speculate, because it really is confidential for the next few days.

And today, to take my mind off things, I helped clear by the hedge on the front field.  The brambles have built up badly for several years and, now that the partridges and pheasants have nested, it seemed a good time to get rid of them and let light and air through to the mostly hawthorn hedge.  In the afternoon, they moved on to the other hedge, along by the road (although still the field side, the road side is kept tidy).




About 10 or 12 feet of rubbish has been taken out.  We will, of course, still encourage wildlife, and birds to nest.  But the grass is in poor condition and will be improved by grazing, so we are going to fence the field, provide water (there is a stand pipe nearby) and have some cows or sheep on there for a while.

An oak that the Sage planted as a small sapling some years ago is doing well, and a self-seeded oak, only about three feet high, is down in the corner near the road end, but far enough away from the wall, the hedge and the road that it is never going to be in the way, so we will protect it from the animals and leave it to grow.


*No teeth were drawn or even filled, it was just a check-up - I couldn't have given blood if I'd had work done of course.

13 comments:

Rog said...

The Sage planted the oak as a small sapling? It must be quite big now.....

allotmentqueen said...

"now that the partridges and pheasants have nested, it seemed a good time to get rid of them" ... tut, tut.....

Oh sorry, are we all going to take the p...?

Unknown said...

Reading your blog Z almost makes me wish we had a rather bigger acreage. Only 'almost' though; our tiny garden is as much as we want to keep tidy. Nice to read about yours though.

Dave said...

You could always lay a cricket pitch there, and encourage BMCC to play for real.

kippy said...

I just mowed and edged our yard, a corner lot. So, even though your large property looks lovely, I'm glad to not have more property.

Z said...

Scamps. Pedants.

It's not gardening, it's hacking back. We like it to be fairly natural though, better for the wildlife.

That does sound like hard work, Dave.

Blue Witch said...

"and encourage BMCC to play for real."

BMCC isn't real?

Now you tell me ;)

Glad you survived Ofsted. I suspected that's where you were.

Christopher said...

Just dropping by, in haste. Glass of wine? Thank you. Don't mind if I do. Always time for that. Cheers!

Z said...

Of course BMCC is real. The matches aren't, but the club is.

Champagne, Christopher - the end of an Ofsted visit is always something to celebrate, whatever the result.

Unknown said...

Your garden must be such a haven for wildlife, Z. I can't imagine having pheasants and partridges nesting in my hedge (erm... actually, I don't have a hedge).

Dave said...

Yes BW, I said play for real. I'd love to get our club members together in real life and actually see them attempt to play against another team. Sadly it's never going to happen.

Z said...

We're a bit far flung to get together for a match. If we did, the next village would be game, and sporting enough to put together a thoroughly mixed team.

I once found a 3 foot long sloughed-off snake skin in my greenhouse, Sharon, and a while later, I saw the snake. Quite a thrill. Pheasants nested in the field, but the partridges nested in the kitchen garden and now the mother and babies, who are about 3 or 4 weeks old, go to be fed with the chickens, the Sage says.

Unknown said...

It sounds so idyllic, Z. We used to get lots of snakes around our garden and on the veranda when we lived in Norway, and while I was out there visiting my daughter in May, her cat brought a live one in. She looked very proud of herself for catching it, too.