The Farmer is mighty creative. He gets it from his mom, whose creativity expresses itself mostly through the use of fabric. And he gets it from his dad, with whom he worked as a mason tender beginning at age 12. He gets it from years of working with my dad on the farm. He gets it from studying in the school of farming on a shoestring. "Make do or do without" seems to be an unwritten rule around here.
Many times he has figured out how to fix something that's unfixable, or rig something to function almost as well as another thing that would cost hundreds of dollars more. And just because he's never done it before is not a good reason not to try something new.
Yesterday, while my dad was combining J.'s soybeans, The Farmer was busy raking hay. Yes, hay in the end of October. We had such a great stand of alfalfa hay that he couldn't bear not to cut it and do SOMETHING with it. So he asked around, and learned that he could turn this wonderful stand of alfalfa into haylage. It involves cutting the hay and baling it up while it's still wet and sealing it in plastic to keep the oxygen out. Instead of hiring someone with equipment to come and seal the big round bales in plastic, he bought large plastic bags and did it himself, with the help of two of our children. Perhaps we will get 2 years of use out of those bags. Hopefully this alternative method works and the hay doesn't spoil.
Many times he has figured out how to fix something that's unfixable, or rig something to function almost as well as another thing that would cost hundreds of dollars more. And just because he's never done it before is not a good reason not to try something new.
Yesterday, while my dad was combining J.'s soybeans, The Farmer was busy raking hay. Yes, hay in the end of October. We had such a great stand of alfalfa hay that he couldn't bear not to cut it and do SOMETHING with it. So he asked around, and learned that he could turn this wonderful stand of alfalfa into haylage. It involves cutting the hay and baling it up while it's still wet and sealing it in plastic to keep the oxygen out. Instead of hiring someone with equipment to come and seal the big round bales in plastic, he bought large plastic bags and did it himself, with the help of two of our children. Perhaps we will get 2 years of use out of those bags. Hopefully this alternative method works and the hay doesn't spoil.
Thanks, dear husband, for being willing to try new things in new ways. Never a dull moment...
I love his creativity! What a great guy you have Lona. He's a keeper. I'm sure his ingenuity (and yours) has helped to keep your farm going despite lean times.
ReplyDeleteYou two make a good team.
I'm a city girl and excuse my stupidity, but how do you get the hay rolled up like that? I know your laughing, but I always wondered and since the closest thing to a farm I been to is your postings I thought I'd ask.
ReplyDeleteNot laughing at all! In fact, I'm kind of excited you asked. One of my goals with this blog is to help people learn about farming.
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna do my homework and post about haying in a couple of days. Thanks for asking!