And like that, 2025 was finally over. Not that 2026 is likely to feel any better. However, comparing the start of years highlights a small change in mindset. In 2025, we packed up and headed to a temporary rental property, having failed to complete before Christmas. Yet this year, we’re still taking it all in and wondering if the farm bubble will ever burst.
Given the weather at the end of the first week of 2026, I may have fallen in love with the farm all over again.
Hedges
Overgrown
The biggest project this week has largely had me sitting in the warm shed watching someone else transform the farm’s appearance.
Most of the farm’s hedges have not been touched since the previous farmer retired. And during the three years the house was empty, while someone was contracted to keep them tidy, this never happened.
In those years without management, the hedge had grown vertically by up to seven feet. And almost as much in width. On the narrow lane, this was a big loss of width, and on the main road, the lack of vision around the bend was becoming an issue.
All the gear
A chance spot of doom scrolling on Facebook, and I spotted an advert for hedge cutting. Having had a call a few days before to find the guys we had booked could no longer come, it seemed like a rather lucky spot.
A few messages and a price and time were set. Early on the 2nd of Janaury this beast turned up, driven by a local young farmer. Not only did he bring the right tools, he also brought a lot of experience.
The pictures won’t do justice to how well the height was brought down, and then the width was reduced. I’m always a little apprehensive about finding trades on Facebook with limited references and shiny pictures. However, this time I really landed on my feet.
Around every post, pipe and tree was perfectly cut. I expected there might be a lot of tidying up around some of the bigger posts; however, as I watched the precision driving, I soon realised there would be nothing that needed fettling.
By the time the artist had finished on my hedges, he was off down the road to do most of the neighbours properties too!
And then the snow came
Some of my favourite books from when I was young include The Jolly Christmas Postman, The Snowman, and the Thomas the Tank Engine episode where he refuses to wear an ‘ugly and heavy’ snow plough and hits a snow bank.
I love snow, and I love that pre-Beaching romantic snow-covered countryside that I was exposed to at a young age. Imagine my excitement when the snow started to fall here!
Even after a brief flurry, there is something magical and levelling about the crisp white snow that transforms a landscape. Even just a brief scattering on the wheels of the tractor is enough to make me smile and lift my mood.
Over a few days, the briefly scattered snow landed on very frozen ground and failed to vanish, as it usually does. Try telling children in the UK that there will be snow in the morning, and they won’t believe you. And I understand why. These two were still coming down the big hill on a sledge after dark. And I’m so disappointed I was still at work!
But it wasn’t all fun and games when I fell arse over tit in a well-hidden ice patch. I don’t think I have ever decked that hard in my life. It certainly took a few moments to breath again, a few more to find my glasses, and manay more for the bleeding to stop!
Husbandry
For all the animals, this was their very first snow, which didn’t really seem to slow them down.
Felis Catus
I suspect I had more fun with the snow and the tiny little paw prints than the cats did. We went out with them when they first ventured into the white stuff. And it was hilarious.
I don’t speak cat, but the expressions and behaviour certainly said ‘what the hell is this’ as they tried to shake the frozen water from the fur. But it didn’t stop them. They went everywhere that day.
Porcine
And the pigs were equally unperturbed by the blanket of soft, fluffy covering that they woke up to. There was a little less routing for a few days, and I suspect they might have enjoyed their extra rations.
One thing about the chilled bacon is the amazing pictures that follow. I really could have sat capturing still images of these guys all afternoon as the sun slowly descended. This really is a much better way to live.
And that’s it for this week. A very full work week means there will be no Wk35 article, so I will rejoin you in Wk36.
That’s all for now
Nothing to Farm