Late Tomato Harvest!

Posted on October 19, 2015 by The Baldock Bard.

Yesterday a friend proudly showed me his tomato plants. Unfortunately mid-October is a little late for ripening them outdoors. I predict chutney making…

Our friend Alex has grown tomatoes,
proud of his horticultural skill,
it’s a shame that they won’t ripen,
Eating them now could make him ill.
However he’s not at all disheartened,
not erratic or even fickle,
“A great success” or so he says,
Monday morning he’ll make pickle!

© Baldock Bard 2015
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The Baldock Boot Sale
SG7 6RD
is the friendliest bargain bonanza anywhere!
every Saturday until 17th of October
With more FREE parking and billions of bargains!
www.u-boot.co.uk

Fast Food for Birds!

Posted on October 16, 2015 by The Baldock Bard.

Part of my conservation agenda on the farm is to encourage wildlife, especially birds. We have ground nesting plots and pollen and nectar plots all designed to enhance the farm’s environment. This year my greatest success is my bird feeding plot. I decided to add sunflower seeds to the over-winter feeding plot, and what a difference it’s made to a normally dull and drab corner of the farm…

A corner of the farm,
is a glorious blaze of colour,
where in past years,
It has been much duller!
Sunflowers stand up proudly,
almost defying words,
I have taken to calling it,
my burger-bar for birds!

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The Baldock Boot Sale
SG7 6RD
is the friendliest bargain bonanza anywhere!
every Saturday until 17th of October
With more FREE parking and billions of bargains!
www.u-boot.co.uk

Confucius He Say…!

Posted on October 15, 2015 by The Baldock Bard.

Good old Confucius left a whole host of sayings when he shuffled off his mortal coil. We all have our favourites, mine being: ‘May you live in interesting times’. Unfortunately when he wrote this, he didn’t say whether he meant good or bad times. At the moment we are planting wheat with an uncertain future. All commodity prices are on the floor and there is little confidence amongst food producers. However, despite this uncertainty, I find these are also exciting times as we farmers constantly re-evaluate everything in our fields. Maybe Confucius was right…

We’re planting wheat,
they forecast rain,
I wish they’d keep it,
back in Spain!
This time last year,
we’d shut the gate,
this year’s plantings,
a trifle late.
We’re also loading,
wheat from the barn,
worth bugger-all,
cause for alarm.
But what is this?
in high street shops,
massive mark-ups,
on all their stocks.
I’m not saying,
“I don’t care”
but at least I’m vertical
and breathing air!

Thank you Confucius; Happy Days!

© Baldock Bard 2015
For more from the Baldock Bard click on ‘Home’ above 
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E-mail: baldockbard@www.baldockbard.co.uk

The Baldock Boot Sale
SG7 6RD
is the friendliest bargain bonanza anywhere!
every Saturday until 17th of October
With more FREE parking and billions of bargains!
www.u-boot.co.uk

A Voice from the Past!

Posted on October 13, 2015 by The Baldock Bard.

Yesterday I spent the day sweeping wheat!
At best the job is dusty and sweaty with grains that work their way down your back to nether regions best not mentioned! I won’t bore you with details of the worst. For light relief, along with the obligatory dust mask, I wear my trusty BOSE noise-cancelling headphones attached to my iPhone. I was sweeping and listening to banal music from my extended playlist, when a voice from the past shocked memories from me quicker than a lightening bolt.
Every Sunday morning in our farmhouse kitchen, almost fifty years ago, the radio would play in the background (a church service from Bridlington or similar). Over a breakfast of cereal followed by a hard-boiled egg and toast, my mother would bustle around the Rayburn while my father, just in from the farm, would sip quietly at a mug of tea. My brother and I would just quarrel!
Almost without warning an announcer’s voice would suddenly say: “Alistair Cooke, Letter from America” and the room would be filled with one of the most melodic voices ever to have graced a valve or transistor… and respectful silence would follow. Niggling between my brother and I would cease, toast would remain un-scraped and not a word would be spoken until the end of the programme.
Looking back Alistair Cooke taught me more about the land from across the Atlantic than a legion of geography teachers. He made whole broadcasts from simple events and took international and national news and personalised them in a way even I as a youngster could appreciate.
In the hustle and bustle of my sweeping day, I stood stock-still amidst the dust and noise from the grain store, silently listening to a story about Vermont and remembering simpler times and a Sunday breakfast from long ago.
Afterwards, nourished by the experience, I swept with renewed vigour.

Alistair Cooke died on the 30^th March 2004, aged 95.

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The Baldock Boot Sale
SG7 6RD
is the friendliest bargain bonanza anywhere!
every Saturday until 17th of October
With more FREE parking and billions of bargains!
www.u-boot.co.uk

Buffet in the Barn!

Posted on October 12, 2015 by The Baldock Bard.

Yesterday our local church held the Harvest Thanksgiving Service in the barn on the farm. Unlike other countries, we lack a national day of thanksgiving. It was strange singing hymns and then enjoying a buffet lunch in a place where the only noise or action this morning will be of loading a lorry with another load of wheat…

We ‘ploughed the fields and scattered’
in the barn upon the farm.
Clean clothes in my workplace,
would fill me with alarm!
Afterwards a buffet lunch,
the floor and plates swept clean,
Cold turkey, ham and salad,
the best Village Thanks-giving seen!

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The Baldock Boot Sale
SG7 6RD
is the friendliest bargain bonanza anywhere!
every Saturday until 17th of October
With more FREE parking and billions of bargains!
www.u-boot.co.uk

An Invisible Car Boot Sale!

Posted on October 10, 2015 by The Baldock Bard.

Here we are at the penultimate Saturday car boot sale of the season. So far this year we have only had to cancel two due to rain. This is a record. However last Saturday came close…

The boot sale season’s almost done,
The last one is next week,
The weather has been kind for us,
although for farming it’s been bleak!

Last week we had thick dense fog,
you could hardly see the stalls,
buyers loomed up out of the mist,
Voices echoed like St Pauls!

Today we hope for sunshine,
the weather forecast’s good.
Come down and see some bargains,
I think you really should!

I know… but it’s early in the morning and the brain is beginning to shut down its early-morning burst in preparation for Saturday morning lie-ins! Have a great weekend and enjoy whatever you have planned.

© Baldock Bard 2015
For more from the Baldock Bard click on ‘Home’ above 
Facebook: Baldock Bard
Twitter: @baldockbard
E-mail: baldockbard@www.baldockbard.co.uk

The Baldock Boot Sale
SG7 6RD
is the friendliest bargain bonanza anywhere!
every Saturday until 17th of October
With more FREE parking and billions of bargains!
www.u-boot.co.uk

Sweeping!

Posted on October 8, 2015 by The Baldock Bard.

All I seem to do at the moment is sweep. We have loads and loads of wheat leaving the farm and after each load has gone I sweep! Then I empty a bin next door, transfer it over to the big shed by conveyor and sweep again. My son-in-law bought me a new sweeper the other day, it’s been a godsend…

I load a lorry,
I sweep the shed,
empty a bin,
sweep that instead!
I sweep the walls,
I sweep the floor,
Why do both?
I’m not sure!
Then another lorry,
leaves the farm,
and I re-engage,
my sweeping arm!

For more from the Baldock Bard click on ‘Home’ above 

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Twitter: @baldockbard
E-mail: baldockbard@www.baldockbard.co.uk

 The Baldock Boot Sale SG7 6RD
is the friendliest bargain bonanza anywhere!
every Saturday until 17th of October

With more FREE parking and billions of bargains!

www.u-boot.co.uk

The 5p Plastic bag!

Posted on October 7, 2015 by The Baldock Bard.

So now we have to pay for plastic bags. In this age where we are all supposed to be more liberal it is obligatory to raise a cheer for aquatic wildlife everywhere. Quite how my Baldock-collected plastic bag finds its way to the sea I’m uncertain. I can just hope that other countries have similar rules. However I welcome the charge…

Five pence for a plastic bag,
the best bargain I’ve ever had!
I took my own shopping yesterday,
just so I didn’t have to pay!
But the greatest result this far,
I’ll use those bags that litter my car.
And even better no more snags,
when I attempt to open those bloody bags!
Weak and pathetic I know I am,
plastic bags defeat me, I’m only a man!

Quite why the Nanny State had to introduce this when certain shops had already introduced the charge without legislation I don’t know. Well done M&S!

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 The Baldock Boot Sale SG7 6RD
is the friendliest bargain bonanza anywhere!
every Saturday until 17th of October

With more FREE parking and billions of bargains!

www.u-boot.co.uk

Over Another Hedge!

Posted on October 5, 2015 by The Baldock Bard.

Last week in Norfolk, supposedly taking a few days off, I was alerted by a familiar sound. Do other professions suffer from having to take a look? Does a dentist look at peoples teeth in Tesco’s? Does a hairdresser make comments about hairstyles on TV? Like a dog attracted by the sound of supper, I had to go take a look…

You can take the farmer from the farm,
But you can’t take the farm out of the farmer.
I’m always ‘hedgerow farming’,
A typical Farmer Palmer!
There in a field,
on the outskirts of a village,
a combine cutting linseed,
prior to autumn tillage!
“What you be doing?”
the farmer asked of me,
“Heard the familiar noise,
had to come and see!”

Facebook: Baldock Bard
Twitter: @baldockbard
E-mail: baldockbard@www.baldockbard.co.uk

 The Baldock Boot Sale  SG7 6RD
is the friendliest bargain bonanza anywhere!
every Saturday until 17th of October
With more FREE parking and billions of bargains!
www.u-boot.co.uk

Plain Sailing!

Posted on October 3, 2015 by The Baldock Bard.

Recently Mrs Bard and I spent a few relaxing days on a boat on the Norfolk Broads. For late September the weather was remarkable, clear blue skies with a few high clouds. However the wind was a bonus for sailors…

Spend a few days on a sailing boat,
enjoy the peacefulness of life afloat.
A very small penalty it has to be said,
are very low ceilings and pint-sized bed.
But this discomfort becomes forgotten past,
When the wind is blowing and you’re travelling fast!

I’m afraid my skills aren’t nautical fantastic,
We spent our week in a ‘Bateau Plastique!’

© Baldock Bard 2015
For more from the Baldock Bard click on ‘Home’ above

Facebook: Baldock Bard
Twitter: @baldockbard
E-mail: baldockbard@www.baldockbard.co.uk

The Baldock Boot Sale
SG7 6RD
is the friendliest bargain bonanza anywhere!
every Saturday until 17th of October
With more FREE parking and billions of bargains!
www.u-boot.co.uk