One of the secret weapons in an organised farmers tool box just has to be quite simply a well updated calendar. Ever since I was a child the importance of recording significant dates and information onto the calendar has been etched in my brain. Not only information like when tups were put to the ewes and when the vet was coming for routine visits but observations of nature like when the first Lapwings returned, bad snowstorms and how many moles had been trapped in which fields. When the land and countryside are such a big part of your life these things are monitored out of love and the role of warden is a privilege.
It is said that you should live as though you are going to die tomorrow but you should farm as though you are going to live forever and because of this you never dispose of last years calendar but every calendar is kept so comparisons can be made from one year to next, to keep an eye on Mother Natures performance and to notice patterns. How reassuring to know that shes doing her job year after year and how reassuring to know that if DEFRA or ‘t’Ministry’ as we referred to them then, demand clarification on anything it is there in black and white because when they say jump you ask how high.
In those days it used to be our feed suppliers Jamesons that provided us with the freebie calendar every year and I have to say back then each month displayed a scantily clad female. I suppose in the hope a racy calendar might sway some little old farmers to purchase feed from them just for the thrill of a fresh pose and pout each month to take their mind off how wet the land is or plummeting lamb prices and in many cases that probably worked.
Thankfully today the calendar subject matter is more tasteful and for the last ten years or so the Countryfile Calendar, supporting Children in Need, has become a firm favourite and if it’s not recorded on there it didn’t or won’t happen, end of. In fact I enter more and more detailed information and events now as more demands are imposed and as more memory cells pack their little bags and leave the building you need all the help that you can get. So before the end of the year it has become my ritual to sit down with a glass of wine and enter as many reminders as I can including all the family birthdays and only then am I ready for the new year. Then I hang it up in a prominent place on January 1st so that while I’m waiting for the kettle to boil for the morning brew I can update the old grey matter and study a fine example of photography into the bargain. Ready to log the year with daily additions and should anyone ask the date of the swallows return in 1995 or when the ewes were tupped this back end then I’m your woman.
