Hay - A Pictorial Essay

Our four seasons here are : Gettin' Ready for Hay; Hay;

Getting everything done that was left because of Hay; and Winter

New baler not making bales

hmmm

YAY!  The old guy said it takes 4 or 5 to sort itself out

New hay 

These two move as one.  Co-dependent?

Old green baler

still not tying knots

hmmm

wildflowers growing on the fence line

the white stuff is really pretty

I love this picture of Onelite sitting on the wagon

My job

Heather's job

Elevator broke

at the top!

Hay Farmers and Farm Dog Extraordinaire

giant field at the back left but it will be all rounds

Hay crew taking a break before Josh there makes us put away the last load of squares...

And there is it - the last load of squares

A Shiny Penny in the barn

Heather is training a beautiful spun copper thoroughbred for a local show.  "It's time for the crossties, Penny", Heather says. Penny is one herd bound crazy redhead.  Just walking into an empty barn has her rolling her eyes, bellowing and stamping her feet.  Not going well, I think.  I have backed myself down an aisle away from the crazy horse and the bossy girl (woman) who is making the horse crazy.

Flashback to Heather's first horse.  I had been in the Michelle's barn with her horses when Heather was
taking lessons but if there were any problems Michelle dealt with them. This crazy white horse was now Heather's problem.  At thirteen she was bound and determined to make him into a showhorse.  First things first, big fight over the bit.  She fought him and fought him.  I was terrified and got in an empty stall and shut the door.  I yelled to her to put him away, she was going to get hurt. NO, she said, grittin her teeth, HE'S GOING TO DO IT! He did, she won but I was stunned, at her determination and his and my strong sense of self preservation and lack of maternal instinct... sorry Heather, you're on your own!

Penny, standing alone in the barn, is a quivering mess.  I was expecting the worse but things never got out of hand.  Penny kept it together when she realized Heather meant business, enough to get brushed, feet picked, saddle on.  Once outside, different horse, calm, cool, collected.  Penny did everything she was asked and got plenty of praise for it.
 Good girl!  I mean that for both of them!

If an experienced horsewoman is known by her bruises ...

I am getting there.  Fairly annoyed today. One horse, in a mad dash to get into the barn and get breakfast, slipped and, my worse nightmare, went down.  One flailing hoof caught me in the thigh. Not real painful but maddening.

So I have been bit, thrown against the stall wall which slowed me down for a while, now stepped on and kicked.  I know my list is small yet but its larger than I ever wanted it to be.  I could happily live without this particular list at all.  Hmmm lets see, I'd rather have a list of all the coutries in Europe I have toured with Vern on the back of a Vespra or a list of all the free docks we've tied up to in Georgain Bay or ...

Here's another list: My morning coffee has flies walking on the rim ... I am usually dirty .... I usually smell...  but I usually enjoy my time at the barn.

Monterossa, Cinque Terra, Italy

I am the old farm wife

After Jenn got me excited about gardening again, I got thinking more and more about Jenn's back to the land ideas.  I learned more about canning, more than just making jam from summer berries.  I bought a book on root cellering, not all my attempts have been sucessful. I have plans for a pressure cooker this year so I can preserve more.  Judging from the happy bean plants in the garden,  I'm going to need it (one can only eat so many hot pickled beans). I do believe we need to relearn the things our grandmothers knew. When the crew is working in the hay fields, I am in my kitchen  cookin' up vittles, if that ain't the definition of the old farm wife, it sure feels like it!

The first September when the garden was finished I learned how to knit socks.  All fall and winter now I am furiously knitting socks.  It helps with the old farm wife physique. When someone needed to find a home for two lambs, I even toyed with the idea of shearing and spinning my own wool.  After spending some time googling, that idea was quickly abandoned.  The lambs never arrived, which was a good thing with wolves and coyotes around, it would have been too much to worry about.

So here I am, dirty feet and dirty hands, brown skinned.  Heather looks like she stepped out of a country music video, I look like I need a great apron, sensible shoes and grandkids hahaha. Just a joke, girls!

Woo wee, I must still have it, or a bit of it... handsome old guy, my age, carried my baler twine out to my car for me. Hahaha Life is Good!