Hobbit Talk.

I noticed this evening that, there being more fine weather in prospect, Sam the Sheep Man has mowed his middle field for the year’s first hay crop. Sam sows his grass because he rotates the grazing around his three fields in that part of the Shire, and so needs the higher nutritional value of a purer strain.

Stan the Beef Man, on the other hand, confines his grazing to the large area of rough ground at the back and sides of my house. He lets his hay fields grow and seed themselves in the old fashioned way, which is much more pleasing to the eye since there must be about fifty different species of wild grasses and flowers in there. It does mean, of course, that he has to take his hay crop at the end of the summer after the seeds have dispersed.

Wasn’t that interesting?

What I also find interesting is that Sam uses his little old blue tractor for haymaking, for some reason. It’s only slightly newer than Gandalf’s cart.

And just as an afterthought, the temperature has been in the mid to upper 70s today, which is very warm by Shire standards. It's at about this point when northern English hobbits are wont to say 'Ee, lad, can't stand this 'eat, can you?' Until it rains, at which point they shift their position to 'Ee, lad, d'ya think we're ever going to get a summer?'