Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 4
Six Tons of Chicken Poo and No
'Épandeur'
Sean commissioned a soil analysis so we could gauge the state of the vineyard. The soil con-
sultant took us through the diagnostic, explaining that, in his opinion, the vineyard needed a
serious fertility boost.
'By my calculations you need six tons of fertiliser. It must be ordered and spread as soon as
possible,' he declared.
I asked how long it would take to spread that amount of fertiliser.
'For Sean, since he's new to it, about three days but rain is forecast in three days so you
must do it now.'
Since the fertiliser was not ordered, this seemed optimistic.
Sean shelved his other plans for the day and went out to investigate the machinery in the
hangar. The 'hangar' was a rusted corrugated iron lean-to around the side of the
pressoir
where old agricultural equipment that we had acquired with the farm was stored. He found
a fertiliser spreader and connected it to the tractor only to discover it was broken. In the in-
tervening hour I got an express order of organic fertiliser delivered. Now we were the proud
owners of 6 tons of compressed chicken manure with no way to spread it.
Sean postulated that we could spread the poo using our back packs with some minor ad-
justments. It involved piercing holes into the bottom of the packs and running tubes from
the holes, then filling the packs with extremely noxious material and walking up and down
each side of each vineyard row aiming the issue from the tubes at the base of the vines. I
carefully explained with the aid of calculations related to the weight, distance and smell why
we should reject this notion out of hand. I was beginning to doubt whether my husband's
sense of practicality was a match for farming. We moved on to the next option, to repair the
spreader, and decided it would take too long and probably be more costly than buying an-
other one.
'Phone around to find out prices for a new one then,' said Sean.
'What is it called and where would I get one?' I replied, reaching for the phone.
'I don't know. You'll have to phone Jamie.'
