Due South - Mark Entwistle


Thursday, September 6, 2007
Community \| Obits \| Editorial & Columnists \| Society \| Sports \| Education \| Classified Ads \| Calendar of Events \| Features \| Newsbriefs \| Legals \| Archives \| Subscriptions \| Photo Gallery

Due South
By Mark Entwistle
The Southern Reporter
Selkirk, The Borders Scotland

Combining in the fields at Bowhill

September when Scotland is at its most beautiful

Here in the Scottish Borders we are enjoying a settled period of very welcome late summer weather.

It follows one of the poorest summers for sunshine that many people can remember and climate change is certainly being blamed by many.

Right now, the sunny weather is seeing local farmers press on to get the last of their harvesting done before the weather changes again.

And despite weeks of wet and miserable conditions, the predictions are that the harvest might be better than expected.

Many farmers here either concentrate on sheep or cattle with the latter also often having a number of fields under cereal crops such as oats, barley and wheat.

Sheep farmers in the Borders tend to occupy the ground with pooorer soil conditions such as hill farms, so they tend not to be able to grow crops as well.

The farm that my wife and I live on is both arable and cattle-orientated and the last few gloriously sunny evenings have seen the farmer’s two sons, who now run the business, out in the combine harvester and tractor and trailer until well after darkness falls.

It is quite eerie looking out into the darkness and seeing the headlights of the farm machinery as it works its way up and down the field at the back of our house, bring in the last of this year’s wheat crop.

The next few days will hear the normal quiet of the Borders countryside around our home broken by the gentle hum of the farm’s grain driers in action thoughout the night.

September is probably the month when Scotland is at its most beautiful.

If you are lucky, the weather is sunny and warm (but don’t bet any of your hard-earned dollars on it!), the fields are that golden/ochre colour after the harvest and the hillsides are ablaze with the purple of the heather.

Report News: (662) 252-4261 or south@dixie-net.com
Questions, comments, corrections: south@dixie-net.com
©2004, The South Reporter, All Rights Reserved.
No part of this site may be reproduced in any way without permission.
The South Reporter is a member of the Mississippi Press Association.

Web Site managed and maintained by
South Reporter webmasters Linda Jones, Kristian Jones
Web Site Design - The South Reporter

Back | Top of Page