Haying time is upon us and we have been VERY busy this week. A neighbor had a hayfield that he wanted cut and we were extremely happy to be able to oblige him! David cut it and by Tuesday morning I was on the field, raking it to bale. Luckily, it was partly cloudy all day. It had been hot, but had cooled down some. Thank God! Because I’m antibiotic-sensitive to the sun right now, cooking on a tractor was not a thing I was looking forward to. But with a hat, long sleeves, and plenty of sun screen, I had fun raking lots of great hay. Then, that afternoon, we set about baling the hay. Our homestead helper, Eric, worked with Will and me, and later David and his friend Ezra joined us. We made short work of that big field.
Hauling it home, we set up our portable elevator, which Will had re-built last year, and soon had two big wagon loads, plus three truck loads in the storage building, filling the loft and part of one ground-level bay. What a wonderful feeling! Today, we’re tired but happy and still have more hay to cut. But I’m paying our good neighbor, Jerry Yourceck, to round bale it with his big baler, as we have little more barn room to store hay. And I do want to put up some second crop hay for little goats and calves. It’s great, not only to put up food for ourselves, during the summer, but for our animals, as well! — Jackie
