Farming in the shade

All of the corn has been planted, and has come up. The Farmer is busy cultivating, in between rain showers. Most of the dry beans have been planted. Some needed replanting. We tell people that these are endangered species beans because they are hard to grow. We sometime forget the truth of what we tell people. We have three or four more varieties to plant, but we can't catch a break with the rain (and we are waiting for some seed to be shipped to us). It is getting late to plant them, and I confess to worrying a bit. Because I know that worrying doesn't actually accomplish anything, I will try to be grateful for what is up and doing well. Farming gives us lots of good practice in trusting God.

Several weeks ago we brought more corn to the nearby windmill. It's a working windmill, and we have had several batches of corn ground into cornmeal. It's a nice addition to our farmers market tables.  First we clean and bag the corn. No pictures of the process this time, but we run it over the fanning mill (or screener) much the same way we do with beans.  Here's an up close and personal picture of the windmill. The wind drives the blades, which turn the giant stones. They also have a smaller set of stones which I think are powered by electricity. Here's the bottom half of the windmill, so that you can get an idea of the size. The Farmer had to take a phone call while we were there. What did we do before cell phones? We carried the bags of corn up a flight of stairs. The stones are actually on the top floor, but we didn't have to carry them that far. It's hard to remember to take pictures when we are there, as the miller is so interesti...

Last week was a dry one, and we were able to cut and bale the first cutting of hay. We choose to hire someone with a large baler to make big round bales of the first cutting hay, which goes in the sheep barn. There is still a lot of work involved in haying this way, but it is machine work, and not back-breaking manual labor.  The crew spent the better part of two days preparing the hay storage area (which recently held lambing pens), hauling the hay in from the field and carefully positioning it in the storage area.  We place each bale (weighing over 1,000 pounds) on a wooden skid or pallet. Hay that comes in contact with concrete will mold and rot. The pallets allow air circulation underneath the bales. Each bale is labeled with the field information. The hay has been chopped and netwrapped, making it easier for The Farmer to feed by hand come wintertime. More first-cutting hay is being cut right now. The weather forecast is for scattered showers off and...