Farming in the shade

We added a sink to the entryway of our house during a spring remodel. So handy for lambing season and watering plants right up by the house and washing up before heading in the house. Today, after my dentist appointment, I stopped by a little shop in a nearby small town. This vase called my name. Those who have seen our entryway will know I have a thing for red and white enamelware. More later on the remodel, perhaps. We continue to cut hay, ted hay, rake hay, bale hay, and bring the hay bales in. All with a side dish of fixing equipment. We run out of steam most nights about 9:00, which just leaves time for showers before we fall into bed exhausted. But we’re still grateful for all the work we can accomplish!

We have spent the last few days planting beans as fast as we can. We put the last of the beans in the ground just before the 4th of July, and with this hot weather, some of those planted first are already poking their little heads out of the soil. We are so grateful! Here are the varieties we planted: Arikara Yellow Black Turtle Calypso Dapple Grey Green Flageolet Hidatsa Red Hutterite Soup  Jacob's Cattle Jacob's Cattle Gold Lina Cisco Bird Egg Marrow Painted Lady Pinto Spanish Tolosana Tiger Eye Valentine Yellow Indian Woman Zebra And we planted a few experiments--a couple of new bean varieties, as well as some lentils and southern peas.  We have been haying as fast as we can, in between pop-up rain showers and equipment failures. The hay is very coarse, but it's hay! It feels very good to be working again, instead of just waiting and worrying. 

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...

But here is my best shot at it. We planted beans. No new varieties this year, unfortunately, and it looks like the Marrow and the Green Flageolet have have not sprouted well. I visited Chicago with our two oldest daughters. Daughter #1 had a conference for work, and so the hotel (the biggest expense in Chicago) was covered. We used the GO Card for Chicago to see several different attractions, like the River Architectural Cruise (above) and the view from the Hancock building (below). While we were gone, The Farmer mowed and put up part of the first cutting of hay. He hasn't mowed any more hay, as we've had a veritable monsoon since this hay was put up. It's either feast or famine with the rain here lately. We also celebrated the marriage of daughter #2, and son #1 moved back in to our home. Big changes; no pictures. We kept moving the sheep and cattle around on their rotational grazing plan. We continued to work on the barn, by installing a new s...

We are actually amazed that we were able to harvest enough hay to feed our animals, with enough left over to sell. The drought summer feels like a long-ago bad dream. I would have to dig for data, but I think it was somewhere between 6 and 8 weeks with only negligible rainfall. Of course that is very good for those who have hay to sell. And it is not so good for those who need to buy. At times like this, we continue to sell at a fair price (somewhere between giving it away and gouging people). We know that what goes around comes around. And that we will, some time in the future, benefit from someone who is willing to sell to us at a fair price. This hay is going to a dairy farm south of us. Dairy farmers are some of the hardest working people I know, and they hardly ever turn a decent profit. Public service announcement to anyone reading who may be against large scale farming: the small guys only sell out because the relentless work isn't worth the pittance earned. Or not ea...

Somewhere in the past couple of weeks, we cut our first crop of hay. Yes, this spring has been a blur. This is the earliest we have ever cut hay, due to the crazy warm weather in March that jump-started spring too early. The past couple of years we've hired someone else to bale part of our first-cutting hay into round bales. This is purely for self-preservation. We estimate that these round bales would be equal to 1500-1900 small square bales. That's a lot of bales to put up on a hay wagon, and then stack up in a barn. This first-cutting hay will feed our sheep for a good part of the winter. The gathering and storing of these larger bales is more mechanized. They are picked up one at a time with a tractor and a bale spear. Each one is placed on a pallet or skid to keep it off the concrete floor. Hay that sits directly on concrete will rot. Then each skid with its bale is moved into position. A double row of them now fills the aisle of the sheep barn, front to back, with just a ...

Hay is one of our main crops. We use it primarily to feed our sheep. It's always a guess as to how much to put up for the year. Will it be an early winter? Will it be a late spring? Will the feed quality of the hay be high enough that the sheep won't waste large amounts of it? In late winter, we get a little better idea of where our supply is, and whether or not we will make it until the pastures are ready for the sheep. This barn was full last fall. There is no reason to carry over extra hay to next year. So, when we were sure we'd have enough, we sold some. The hay price is better in March than it is in June. That's because many livestock producers are still feeding lots of hay, as it's too early to put the animals out on pasture. Also, hay is not typically harvested until late May or early June. So right now is the high point of demand and the low point of supply. Time to sell. It's much pleasanter to work with hay when it's 50 degrees out, rather than 80...

About six weeks ago, one of our hay fields looked like this. Simply gorgeous--almost ready to cut. We were in the fields, planting like crazy. Planting late, because of a cold, endlessly rainy spring. Despite the fog that envelopes those who are planting late, planting like crazy, one thing stood out in this hayfield. The tracks. What on earth? Someone had been in our hayfield! Not just an ATV, riding along the edge, either. This someone had carefully ridden back and forth across the whole field at regular, methodic intervals. And that someone was BIG. Ruh-roh. Trouble. The only huge thing that rides back and forth across a hayfield at methodic, regular intervals leaving only tracks is a spray rig. Someone must have sprayed our hayfield. Our organic hayfield. The Farmer started calling neighboring farmers. The first one said he does all his own spraying. Not likely he would be confused about which field was his. The second farmer told us he hadn't ordered any custom spraying late...

For the month of July, The Farmer has a little extra help around the farm. We're enjoying having an intern job shadow and work with us. She's studying Bio-Engineering, and hails from Belgium. So far she's learned to run a skid steer, work with sheep, make compost, cultivate beans, sell at a farmers' market and many more things. Her willingness to try new things is refreshing. She even helped us put up hay!

Last week the rain spoiled a crop of hay we'd cut. It isn't a total loss--we just have to wait for it to dry out again. It loses quite a bit of quality due to the rain, but it's how things go sometimes. Yesterday the hay was dry enough to rake up into long windrows in preparation for baling. But when the raking was done, a part was missing from the rake. Uh-oh. Where could that part be? See? It's gone. This is what we were looking for. And this is where we had to look. We had 45 minutes to gobble the freshly grilled steaks, etc. AND find the part before the custom baler arrived. See our priorities? Eat first--then tromp through the field on a full stomach. Most of us walked--either through the hay rows or next to them. But a team of enterprising folk also decided to re-rake the hay (another ding to the quality) and follow behind with the Gator to see if they could turn it up. We did not find it. Exhausted, we settled in lawn chairs and ate the consolation prize--waterme...

The first-cutting hay has been round baled. We have just been too busy with the late planting to bale it in small square bales ourselves. The round bales are harder to feed throughout the winter, but much less work right now. But we still like to get it in before it rains...

The new tractor is working well. We've been giving it a workout, and getting the hang of how it operates. Cutting hay here. Hopefully, no rain!

Remember all the haying we did last summer? I do. The Farmer is selling it hand over fist right now--seems everyone has run out. So all that work we did putting the hay WAY up there in the loft of the barn? It's being thrown down bale by bale and loaded onto pickup trucks and trailers and hauled off to be eaten by horses and dairy cattle. I'm grateful for the sales right now. The cash flow of farming is unpredictable, like the weather that affects it. Those who cannot deal with uncertainty should not be farmers.

Now that harvest is over, we're busy tidying up and buttoning up for winter. Wintertime brings its own set of activities. During our "down" time, we keep our eyes open for auction sales. Equipment auctions are a farmer's entertainment, social hour, continuing ed, and ebay-like adrenaline rush all rolled into one. Sometimes we even get some much-needed equipment! Here the guys are unloading a hay rake we bought at an auction. Hook up the chains... See if it balances well... Lift... (see the concentration? Did you think this was easy?) And return the borrowed trailer. All in a day's work!

I finally took the plunge earlier in the year and signed up for a big art/craft show. It's this weekend. Signing up to be a vendor at a show is a bit of a leap of faith. You have faith that those who look over the applications will like your items enough to allow you to be a vendor. (It's called the jurying process--some shows are juried, some are not.) You have faith that you'll have a display figured out by then, and enough items to fill a booth. Abundance sells at shows--having 2 or 3 of 100 different items does not go as well as having 100 each of 2 or 3 items. You have faith that the weather's going to be good. So far, for this weekend, it looks good. Of course the saying around here is: "If you don't like the weather in Michigan, just wait 15 minutes." You have faith that nothing will conflict with the date. Often, decisions about shows are made months in advance. Things come up. With many things an answer like, "Nope. Can't do it. I'm b...

We've already successfully hayed two fields this year, due to an early, warm spring, and have another field cut and laying. Unfortunately, it's been rained on twice, which affects the quality of the hay. And more rain is predicted. So the hay wagons are ladies in waiting... Today the Farmer delivered a small load of last year's hay to a regular customer. She commented that unlike other years, all of her ewes were fed exclusively hay until the last week of gestation, when she fed them a little grain. She averaged 1.6 lambs per ewe, with good birth weights, and all of the ewes but one were in excellent condition. She ruminated that the extra money she'd spent on our hay was saved by not having to feed grain, and feels that her ewes are healthier. That's nice to hear. We know that our soil is working, and that healthy soil makes healthy plants, which make healthy animals. But it's very rewarding to have someone else notice it.

Recently we delivered a load of hay a long ways, hauling hay wagon behind truck. We crawled slowly, for speed makes the wagon sway wildly. After what seemed like forever, we turned the last corner before our destination. "Ah, I'm so glad the tires have held," I breathed. "Don't say it!" came the admonishment from the back seat. The kids are not superstitious, but still. We should hold our gratefulness until the proper time. Two minutes later, we heard the sickening squeal of a tire blowing. Within spitting distance of the finish line. Each bale of alfalfa hay weighs about 50 pounds. The wagon held 126 bales. Over three tons of hay. After 5 o'clock on the Saturday of a holiday weekend. No jacking, no fixing, no help, nohow. The Farmer decided the rim was worth sacrificing. We drove on. We unloaded the hay, left the wagon for another day's repair, and headed home. So close.

If it seems like every third post during the summer is about haying, it's because haying is a HUGE part of our lives during the summer. I wish it weren't so. I would like to hay twice during the summer, just for the fun of it. After twice, it's just mind-numbing work. We have over a hundred sheep. So far this summer we have harvested over 3,800 bales of hay. A few hundred of them, we've sold (thank you, Lord). The rest have been stacked in the sheep barn, until it can't hold any more. After that, they've gone UP in the loft of my father's 60 year old barn. I have been a bit crabby face about haying this summer. I can't seem to get even half done with my own work (I've added a part time job with lots of responsibility to the mix), but when it's time to hay, everything else stops. "Make hay while the sun shines" is not just a cute saying. Yet, The Farmer keeps on smilin'. He keeps on cutting hay, raking hay, stacking hay, and (glory!...

Last week, The Farmer mowed 25 (yes, twenty-five!) acres of hay. Despite the great weather predictions, it rained on the cut hay. Yesterday and today it was finally dry enough to bring in. 700 bales were stacked in the sheep barn yesterday, and 800 more came in tonight. But the wind was blowing from the east ("Wind from the east is not good for man or beast.") and the sky was clouding up. Hurry... Hurry... Bring me a 3/8" x 1-1/2" bolt for the baler chute chain! Hurry... We've run out of twine, can you run some out here? Hurry! Whew. We made it in and beat the rain. The life of a farmer is carefree and stressless. Not!