BRIAN (BERT) BLOWERS
These pictures courtesy Mr B. Blowers
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( For an enlarged view click here )
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John Savage and the YFC
I joined the young farmers and was in the Pig Section, lots of fun
I have always liked working with pigs as they are very smart and
the small ones are extremely playful. Cooking the swill was OK
as during the winter you could keep warm.
After the pigs I was in the chicken section, not as enjoyable as I
find them a little bit stupid. I remember Bert deciding that the
chicken runs needed to be creosoted so there we were with paint
brushes slapping on the creosote, a little later my skin started to
burn and I ended up at the school hospital where Matron smeared
this (I think) Black ointment all over me. I remember Bert being
very explicit about emptying the water containers every night
or they would freeze, if they did and burst the seam they would not
work.
Next it was the honey bees, this turned out to be very
interesting. Bert was very knowledgeable and taught me a great deal
about bees, although that did not help me when we competed with
the Cranleigh Young Farmers, as I forgot every thing I had learned
this was always a problem I had with tests. One of the jobs was to
keep the grass cut down in front of the hives, try laying on your
stomach and swinging a sickle (you sure did not stand up) but it got
done. I had to feed the bees with sugar water during the winter as
we had taken all their honey. We also had to separate the honey from
the combs, this we did in the wood working shop (quite messy).
THE SWARM
I remember
Bert getting me up early one morning as there was a swarm of bees
clustered in a large clump, on a tree branch. I am not sure if they were our
bees or belonged to someone else.
We were done up with our bee keeping nets and had a saw and box with a lid.
My job was to hold the box while Bert sawed the branch off that the bees
were on, Bert carefully put the branch and bees in the box which we then laid
on the ground with the lid propped open slightly. We had to wait and watch
if the bees flew into the box, if they did then we had the queen. After confirming
that she was there we took the box to an already prepared empty hive.
There was a white board about five foot long with one end resting on the
landing platform the other on the ground. Bert carefully turned the box upside
down at the lower end of the board with the lid slightly open. We watched as
the bees went up the board into the hive, watching for the queen. Bert spotted
her as she went into the hive (I did not see her). We kept our fingers crossed
that the bees would like the new hive and stay there. They did so everything
was OK.
Bert taught us to mix mortar, lay bricks and mix concrete when we built the
cow shed, then large scale carpentry when the Dutch barn was built.
I remember the electric fence when we first got it, of course we had to
touch it to see what it felt like (only once!!!) it sure caused a ruckus
when the little pigs touched it, a great deal of squealing and racing
around.
When I think about it now Bert must have put in a lot of work with
The Young Farmers especially when we were on holidays
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There are many more YFC photos on Mr Blowers page.
If you have Young Farmers stories please send them to me
and we can put them on the page.
***********************************************************************
( For an enlarged view click here )
***********************************************************************
John Savage and the YFC
I joined the young farmers and was in the Pig Section, lots of fun I have always liked working with pigs as they are very smart and the small ones are extremely playful. Cooking the swill was OK as during the winter you could keep warm.
After the pigs I was in the chicken section, not as enjoyable as I find them a little bit stupid. I remember Bert deciding that the chicken runs needed to be creosoted so there we were with paint brushes slapping on the creosote, a little later my skin started to burn and I ended up at the school hospital where Matron smeared this (I think) Black ointment all over me. I remember Bert being very explicit about emptying the water containers every night or they would freeze, if they did and burst the seam they would not work.
Next it was the honey bees, this turned out to be very interesting. Bert was very knowledgeable and taught me a great deal about bees, although that did not help me when we competed with the Cranleigh Young Farmers, as I forgot every thing I had learned this was always a problem I had with tests. One of the jobs was to keep the grass cut down in front of the hives, try laying on your stomach and swinging a sickle (you sure did not stand up) but it got done. I had to feed the bees with sugar water during the winter as we had taken all their honey. We also had to separate the honey from the combs, this we did in the wood working shop (quite messy).
THE SWARM
I remember Bert getting me up early one morning as there was a swarm of bees clustered in a large clump, on a tree branch. I am not sure if they were our bees or belonged to someone else.
We were done up with our bee keeping nets and had a saw and box with a lid. My job was to hold the box while Bert sawed the branch off that the bees were on, Bert carefully put the branch and bees in the box which we then laid on the ground with the lid propped open slightly. We had to wait and watch if the bees flew into the box, if they did then we had the queen. After confirming that she was there we took the box to an already prepared empty hive. There was a white board about five foot long with one end resting on the landing platform the other on the ground. Bert carefully turned the box upside down at the lower end of the board with the lid slightly open. We watched as the bees went up the board into the hive, watching for the queen. Bert spotted her as she went into the hive (I did not see her). We kept our fingers crossed that the bees would like the new hive and stay there. They did so everything was OK.
Bert taught us to mix mortar, lay bricks and mix concrete when we built the cow shed, then large scale carpentry when the Dutch barn was built. I remember the electric fence when we first got it, of course we had to touch it to see what it felt like (only once!!!) it sure caused a ruckus when the little pigs touched it, a great deal of squealing and racing around.
When I think about it now Bert must have put in a lot of work with The Young Farmers especially when we were on holidays
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