We are sharing a monthly look at the farm diary of John Foss, written from his dairy farm in Kingston Russell in 1851.
July 1851
Battling the weather
The main task on the farm from mid-July is haymaking, which requires hot dry days. Unfortunately for John, the weather for the latter part of the month is stormy and wet: “about the middle of the day a little rain came on & put the Hay making a side again, storms flying about”. Despite this, he is able to move lots of carts of hay and builds a hay rick at Pitcombe Dairy. When not busy with hay, John, his son William and the farmhand Cooper spent their time churning butter and “copsing”.
Brother Samuel Visits
At the beginning of the month, John travels to Coryates to see his brother, who damaged his leg towards the start of the year. He writes that “Samuel [is] better but not able to walk”, and that they talk of Samuel coming to the farm “when he is able to beare the journey”.
Samuel sticks to his word and arrived at Pitcombe on the 16th. Lots of local people drop in and out to see him, and he even borrows Mr Foot’s donkey wagon to ride to church in! On the 24th, John takes Samuel to Eggerton to stay with their sister Mary and her husband James – a dairyman like John who is equally busy haymaking.
Trips to town
Every Saturday, John attends the market in Dorchester to sell his wares. He often meets the same local characters – George Groves regularly complains of low prices, and Mr Galpin regularly often buys butter. This month, John is able to sell butter to a Mr Webber of London, who buys a running subscription until Christmas!
The little things
Occasionally, John will include tiny, menial events from the day, that stand out from his standard style. On the 11th, he wrote:
“Mrs misplaced a note that she had from Bridehead this day, cant be found any where”
This is immediately followed up by:
“found it in the side board drawer”
It’s likely that the search for the note was going on as John was updating his diary in the evening – perhaps it tickled him and he chose to include it?
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Interested in learning more about John Foss? Explore the other months of his 1851 from the list below: