The practical side of yard life
The wheelbarrow went first
Fictional yard diary · Ellie and Rob
A wet Sunday, a short job that wasn’t short, and an unexpected lesson in sharing the yard chores.
On Sunday Rob said he’d just do a quick lap of the lower paddock. Ten minutes later I could see the wheelbarrow from the kitchen window, halfway up the slope, with no Rob attached to it. When he came back for the second fork, he said the wheelbarrow had gone on ahead to save time.
The jobs on the board
We split the field between us. I did the gate end because it was closer to the muck heap. Rob did the long side because he was the one who’d said it looked easy. Bramble followed him along the fence until she realised the barrow contained absolutely nothing she wanted.
A better way to share it
By the time we were done, we’d spotted a loose latch on the far gate and worked out why we both kept missing the same corner. At the next yard handover we drew a rough map, divided it into sections and left a tick beside each one as it was done. It looked like a child’s treasure map. That was fine. We could tell where we’d been.
By the kettle
We put the forks back in their proper place, which felt like the least likely part of the whole morning. Rob made tea. I put my gloves on the radiator. By the time the kettle clicked off, we had agreed to never say ‘just a quick lap’ again. I expect that will last until Thursday.
Back to the Yard Journal · Read next: A poo-picking routine you can keep up