Farm Life - 8. FAR Chapter 8

Can I speak to Gran please Nicky, don’t take too long as this is long distance” I said to my brother, “Hang on and I will get her” Nicholas said as he put the phone down on the table to go and fetch her. I spoke to my grandmother for a few minutes, explaining the situation, that my friend’s family were in at the moment, and that I would be staying in South west Scotland for a while.

“Very well, Lewis it’s good to know you are helping friends, and it will be good experience for you, make sure you keep in touch” my grandmother said and I hang up.

My next call was to the travel agent in Perth, Western Australia, to cancel all the tours and accommodation that had been made for me, and I enquired about how long my Tourist Visa permitted me to stay in the UK, and I was informed that it was for three months, which meant till the end of March.

After finishing the second call, I informed Ronnie and Preston that it was set for me to stay here for as long as I am needed, as long as I leave by the end of March, as that is when my visa expires.

After breakfast was over, I helped with cleaning the dishes, while Ronnie rinsed out the two calf bottles, and placed them in the dishwasher to be washed and disinfected. Once the kitchen was cleaned up, we sat at the table to discuss what to do next when there was a knock on the door, and Ronnie jumped up to open it. A man aged in his 30’s stood there, and he stepped in as soon as Ronnie opened it wider and stepped back a little to let him in.

“Lewis, this is our part time farm worker, Malcolm, he lives in the little cottage across the road, Mal, this is my friend Lewis, he will be staying a while to help, while dad is out of action” Preston said doing the introductions, and I shock the man’s cold gloved hand. “We were just planning our next jobs to be done, is there anything that dad has set you to do” Preston asked Mal, “No not really, he usually allocated me jobs every few days, so I guess that’s your job now” Mal said to Preston.

“Ok, well mum gave us two lists, one for maintenance, and one for farm work. Ron and I have done our regular morning jobs already. We need to check all three goat paddocks for any fence damage, and distribute some hay out to each flock, the key maintenance jobs, are to fix that drainpipe on the corner of the machinery shed, clear all the gutters on all buildings, and fix a few gates, Lewis and I will do the drains and gutters, if you Mal, and Ron, can check the goat fences and put out some hay for them” Preston said.

Soon we all had our cold weather gear on, Preston gave me some gloves and a beanie to wear, and issued me with a pair of gumboots, and we set off out to the main shed, and it wasn’t long before a rain mist came in, which became light showers.

By the time everyone had returned to the house for lunch, everyone was very cold and damp, I found some tins of soup in the pantry and began to open them, Preston produced the large saucepan to heat up the soup, Ron cut up the bread and made toast, while Mal set the table for four hungry men.

By the end of the of the day, I was tired, wet and cold. I had found it a lot harder to work in the constant wet weather, compared to the conditions back home on the farm, after a dinner of grilled lamb chops and vegies, I had a long hot shower and went straight to bed, falling asleep almost straight away.

When I woke the next morning, it was still dark, and I heard footsteps going down the stairs, followed by the sound of the back-kitchen door opening and closing, I rolled out of bed hesitantly, as my body was still aching from yesterday, once dressed I went into the bathroom, which I found to be a mess.

I collected all the dirty clothes on the floor and carried them downstairs to the laundry, which is just outside the kitchen, I returned indoors and got the wood fire going in the stove, and began tidying up the kitchen while I was waiting for the wood stove to heat up the water.

Heading upstairs, I found a laundry basket behind the door in the bathroom, which was half full, and going into Preston’s and Ron’s bedrooms, I collected a few more dirty items, and added them to the basket, which I carried down stairs and into the laundry.

By the time the boys returned to the house for some breakfast, I had a load of washing going in the laundry, some wood chopped up and brought into the wood box in the kitchen, the stove was heating up the house nicely, and I had most of the breakfast prepared, and the table set. After breakfast, while I was washing the dishes, Preston went out to chop some more wood, and Ron hung out the clean washing on the clothes line under the back lean-too.

It was another miserable day outside, with misty rain once again setting in, Preston and Mal, who turned up just as we had completed our household chores, went off to check on the cattle, taking the Landrover this time, as it was too wet to go out on the quad bikes. When Ron came inside he went into the lounge, turned on the television and sat down to Scottish Football Association match.

Having found the vacuum cleaner earlier in the day, I began to vacuum the lounge room, much to Ron’s annoyance, and he turned off the television, “Ok, you win, what do you want me to do?” Ron said as he stood up to face me, “How about cleaning the upstairs bathroom please, and that includes the toilet” I answered with a wicked grin on my face, I was surprised that Ron didn’t argue with me, he just went upstairs to do his chore as requested.

After the vacuuming, I had a look in the freezer, where I found a large roast beef, so I pulled it out and left it on the sink to defrost, hopefully defrosted enough before needing to cook it for dinner. In the pantry, I found plenty of sweet potatoes, onions and pumpkin, in the fridge I found broccoli and cauliflower, so I had everything for a big roast dinner.

When I realised that it seemed very quiet upstairs, I wondered what Ron was doing, so I quietly made my way up the stairs, the door was closed to his room, so I knocked and waited.

A few moments later Ron opened his door, and stepped back to his bed, which had a suitcase, with folded clothes in it. “I’m sure everyone has totally forgotten, that I have to return to boarding school tomorrow, one of you will have to take me there” Ron said as he continued his packing.

“I’m sorry Ron, I had no idea where you go to school, and wasn’t aware that school started again” I said. “Actually, it started last Wednesday, but with Preston being away, Dad kept me home to help on the farm for the rest of the week” Ron said with smile.

So where is your school Ron, how far away is it from home” I asked, curious to know more about Preston’s little brother. “I go to Stranraer Academy, which is a 40-minute drive north of home, and I board there during the week and come home on weekends, it’s a very large school, and I get along with most of the students in my year,” Ron replied.

“Ok, I will check with Preston, to see what he wants to do about getting you to school” I said and I headed downstairs and out the back. There was no sign of Preston or Mal, the Landrover was still out, so I turned back to the house, where I began work on preparing lunch for everyone.

When they had returned and we were all seated at the table, I waited for a few minutes, to allow Preston to eat some food before asking him about Ron and school. “I guess you have forgotten that Ron is due back at the academy tomorrow” I stated as casually as I could.

“Shit, yeah, I had totally forgotten, Lewis do you have an international drivers licence?” Preston asked me, “Nope just an Australian probationary licence” I stated, “Blast, well that throws out my day for tomorrow, Mal can you hold the fort for half a day, while I run Ronnie to Stranraer? Preston said looking over at the farm hand, “Yep no problems” Mal said cheerfully.

“When do you have to go back to University, and which university do you attend? I asked Preston. “I’m meant to be back the day after tomorrow, I will have to telephone the dean, and ask for emergency personal leave” Preston said with a frown on his face, before continuing, “I attend the University of West Scotland, at the Aye campus, which is 115 kilometres or a two-hour drive, just 45 minutes south west of Glasgow” Preston said.

Not much more was said about school or university, and after lunch I asked to go with Mal to help with the northern boundary fence, and Preston accepted my offer, but I insisted that he prepare the vegetables for tonight’s roast dinner, which he agreed to do.

While I was out in the paddocks helping strain the fence wires, I asked Mal if it was possible that he and I be able to run the farm, while both Preston and Ron are away at school and university, Mal said he would be fine with that, and I said I would talk to the boys when we returned.

When we did get back, I found Preston upstairs packing his suitcase, “Oh good your back, do you think that you and Mal will be able to run the farm while we are away, I rang the university and I have to attend the classes, if I am to graduate” Preston said as soon as he saw me.

“That’s interesting, because that’s what Mal and I were discussing, while we were out in the paddocks, yes go ahead, take Ron back to school and keep going to Ayr, we will be fine” I said in a positive tone, to encourage him to go. I spent the rest of the afternoon preparing a large dinner, with Mal invited to attend, and during dinner we set some plans on what are the most important jobs around the farm.

I would have to get the stove fire going, milk the cow, feed the chickens & poddy calves and collect the eggs, while Mal checks and feeds the goats.

The rest of the farm work we would share or work together to complete. Early the following morning, I started my new routine, while Preston and Ron showered and finished their packing, they joined us for breakfast, before heading north in Preston’s small car.

When I had finished the first lot of chores, I chopped some more fire wood, cleaned up the kitchen, and stacked the stove of more wood, before heading out to help Mal with cleaning the gutters, now that the weather had improved a little.

When Mal and I sat down for lunch, the house telephone rang, and I stood up to answer it, “Mull of Galloway Farm, McCulloch residence, Lewis Grantham speaking”, “Wow, that was a mouthful” came the voice on the end of the line, which I recognised to be Preston, “Yeah, I guess it was, Mal and I are just about to have lunch” I replied, and we spoke for about ten minutes, before Preston ended the call, and I was able to sit down to enjoy my lunch.

Preston had called to inform us that he had arrived in Ayr, and that he hadn’t told his mum of the change of plans for running the farm, as he didn’t want to worry his parents about it, saying he had confidence in both of us to keep things run smoothly in his absence. For the first week on the farm, Mal and I managed to complete everything on the maintenance list, as well as locating sections of boundary fences that needed repairs. Preston called me at least once a day to make sure everything was ok.

On the Monday morning, when Mal arrived at the house after he had checked and fed the goats, and I had completed feeding the chickens and poddy calves, I announced that we needed to go to a supermarket to do some shopping, and Mal suggested we travel to Stranraer, as it is the nearest main town to the farm, and so with my wallet, the keys to the Landrover, which I handed over to Mal, and a big shopping list, we began the long dive north.

When we completed all the shopping, we stopped by to see Ronnie briefly at his school, since he was not able to get down to the farm on the weekend, and I promised to find a way for him to come down at least once this month. Leaving Stranraer, we stopped at Ardwell on the way back for a bite of lunch, arriving back at the farm in time to so the afternoon chores. I was enjoying my time on the farm now, having settled into a routine, I telephone home twice more updating them on how things were going here in Scotland, and informing them that I was still not sure how long I would be here.