God-Speak

The above photo was taken right after we completed our first hay mowing last summer. From a clear sky and a sunny skies prediction, the wind picked up, the heavens darkened, and we feared we were in for a downpour on our newly cut crop.
Fortunately, the Great Spirit gave us a break, and only a few sprinkles fell from the angry-looking clouds.

A few days later, Farmer Sam and Sammette (Steve and I) had a successful baling with good dry hay. Our horses are still munching on the results.

For more great photos, go to Skywatch Friday.

Farmer's Work

After Steve and Jim and several of Jim’s boys spent most of the day working on the bale wagon, they finally fixed it without any new parts. (The needed ones weren’t available on a Saturday.) The key seemed to be getting a chain that kept working itself off to stay in place. It wasn't easy, but the farmer/engineers and one creative doc managed the feat.
At last, we’re done. 4.5 tons are stacked in the hay yard, which ought to be all we need for a year.
We didn’t finish until 5PM. Unfortunately, that was too late (and we were too dirty and wiped out) to make it to Vernal for Gary and Loran’s party, so I gave half of the rum cake I had made for the pot luck to the neighbors. After dinner and a break, Steve went out again to help Jim and Caleb finish getting in the 900 bales they still had in their fields. It’s nearly dark and they're still working. I think Steve is enjoying hanging out with 7 year old Caleb.
Farming is hard work. Most of the time it’s fun, though, being outside, smelling the fresh cut hay, kicking those diesel machines when they don’t behave, and generally soaking in that good old country horse/cow manure… er, atmosphere.

Holiday Baling

Yesterday morning, I had gone out to water the new trees and shrubs I planted along the creekbank, when I saw Jim, our neighbor, driving through the gate with his tractor and baler. All the hay was baled in a couple of hours. We were pleasantly surprised to have a yield of 2 tons per acre.
We’re set for winter with one cutting on a little over half of our field, under 2.5 acres (and the horses had grazed on the lower part for almost two weeks this spring.)We like playing farmer. (Especially when someone else owns the machinery and does much of the work!) Jim was going to pick up the hay with his bale wagon and stack it in our hay yard yesterday afternoon, but he found that his machine needed a new universal joint and the suppliers were closed for the holiday. With luck, he’ll get his repairs done and the stacking complete today.
Last night, we spent a pleasant hour watching city fireworks (easily visible across the alfalfa fields) with Jim and Lisa. It was a nice, uncrowded way to enjoy the festivities.

Hay Down

With plenty of fertilizer and water, our alfalfa/grass meadow grew three feet tall. Our horses have only been able to keep up with about an acre, so our neighbors offered to cut a little under 2.5 acres so we’d have something to put up for winter hay. (We saved a little bit of the tall stuff for the horses to eat until the rest of the pasture grows out after cutting.)
Yesterday, with the NOAA weather report showing sun for the next 7 days, 16 year old Todd came over with his dad’s big mo-co (mower-conditioner) hay mower. (Too bad Lucas wasn’t here to see. He would have loved that BIG truck!) Todd’s little brother Caleb, only 7, came along to “help.” We had to pull T-posts in several places to widen the gaps for the machine’s 15 foot, 10 inch swath. (We’d prepared for a 14 foot wide machine, but that turned out to be the measurement on their old haymaker.)
Todd managed that machine like he’d been doing it all his life – he’s probably been involved and practicing since he was Caleb’s age. The grass was down in neat rows in just over an hour.
However, no sooner did we get the machine back through the gaps and returned to the house than the sky started to darken. We went in, checked NOAA again, and sure enough, now they were calling for 20% chance of rain. Duh. After they looked at the sky, they must have decided 100% sunny just wasn’t realistic, same as we did. So much for accurate weather predictions.
The wind blew, the temperature dropped, but it didn’t rain yesterday. This afternoon, more thunderstorms moved through. The wind blew, the temperature dropped, and some raindrops fell. Not too many, though. So far, the hay’s probably all right.
We’ll keep our fingers crossed for good weather through Friday or Saturday, when we should be good to bale.
Next project: doing something with the produce from veggie garden and fruit trees. They're coming along.