Hard but enjoyable life on a small farm

It hasn’t been the summer we were hoping for.

Setting foot outside the house here in the woods means to risk being savaged by thousands of tiny bloodsucking vampire midges, a sure sign that it’s humid and very wet.

After a promising start in late March and early April, the weather deteriorated rapidly, and settled into a sullen pattern of leaden grey skies and heavy downpours, occasionally alleviated by brief interludes of brilliant sunlight when the leggy growth starts to steam slowly, and the ancient oak woods momentarily resembled a rainforest hidden in the clouds.