Home Education country style.

Like any home educated child, Bob's education does not all need to be pen and paper sat at a table. This afternoon I had Bob for a while as Daughter and her OH were away for their next scan.

So Bob and I toddled off down to the end of the village to look at the tractors in the shop, from there we went down the back country lane.

strange child is trying to strangle himself

While we were walking down the lane a big tractor and trailer passed us, then just as it was driving out of sight it started to reverse as there was another one coming the other way and they had to pass.

passing tractors

We kept on with our stroll and spotted on our left that the field that had been sprayed last week has been ploughed by this week.

a panoramic view along the lane

As we carried on we saw the tractor and trailer unit come back again, so we knew something was going on.

passing us again at the side of the field

We rounded the corner and saw tractors harvesting.

putting the grass into piles

Bob and I went for closer inspection so he could understand why as the green tractor passed across the field the field changed from dark green to light green.  Bob thought the tractor was paining the field light green. We inspected the piles of cut grass.

dozens of seagulls on the ground

We discussed why the seagulls were al over the field, Bob counted them and thought there was 4,200 of them.

flying over head

We put Bob's hood up in case the seagulls pooped on us, he thought this was hilariously funny and told the seagulls to go away as Grandma did not have a hood to put up.

The trailer units that had been gathering up the cut grass moved across to the other field, so we walked up the hill to watch them, 

Watching the trailer units collect the grass.

From here the tractors got close enough for us to see the mechanism that was underneath hoovering up the grass and sucking it up into the trailer unit.

fertilsing

In the next field over again we watched yet another tractor spraying fertiliser on the cut field to help the next lot grow so it can be cut again.

So there we have it, a country living child learning that the grass was cut, placed in piles, gathered up and taken back to the farm to be stored so that the cows can eat it in the winter. That there are all sorts of beasts and edible things under the grass that seagulls like to eat, and that the fields are fertilised so that the process can start all over again. 

Think we spent the best part of an hour watching all this going on, he was fascinated. 

I remember when we lived on the farm we set the video camera up at the living room window and filmed bringing in the crops, he would spend ages watching on the tv, not sure what happened to that video.

Here is Bob, he decided instead of walking across the easy edge of the field he would walk across the lumpy ploughed bit.

Watching the tractors at work.