These three things tell me that summer has officially arrived...

1. The Hay crop is in the barn!

2. School is out for the summer.

3. The Strawberry Moon has happened.

The weather has cooperated nicely this year for great hay making. The grass hay bales are perfectly cured, dry, and nicely green.  Now I can see the deer crossing the hay fields. I hope to see wild Turkeys and chicks out and about.

The garden is off to a good start, and my perennial flowers are blooming. The lavender is just turning color.

2017 Hay Season

The last 7 days have been completely occupied with getting the hay crop cut, and baled....then getting it into the barn. A hard job for us, because we need labor.  It is getting very difficult to find teens willing to work for us. Today's teens are not willing to do any labor, it is a crisis for this generation. 

We somehow survived 7 days of work, and made 1400 bales of hay. The weather was a huge challenge. Very hot (up to 104),and about 20 degrees above average.

It is over now....and the good news is that the equipment worked well and there were no breakdowns.

Hay and Bucking Bales

The farm has about 5 acres of grass that is baled for livestock hay. The work season is short (4 days) and weather for good curing and drying of the grass is most important.

The weather decided to cooperate finally, and the grass is cut, baled, bucked, and in the barn. I am very pleased to have the farm work done. A total of 628 hay bales! A normal crop for here, and the quality is excellent. I am proud of the product. 2016 hay is done, now, I need to get ready for Brave Girls Symposium 2016...6 days to go!

2015 Hay is in the Barn!

OH yeah!! The hay off our farm is in the barn tonight. This is the earliest date that we have ever done the haying. It is so good to have the wonderful, green, grass hay stored for next winter. We will be closer to going on a camping trip now. The other good news is that our next door neighbor asked us to put our cattle on his pasture to graze it down. The cattle will stay there until late next fall...there is over 10 acres of pasture, and the grass is very tall right now.

I just noticed that this is post 1003! Celebration!

Bucking Hay Bales in 97 Degree Heat

The weather forecast is for extreme heat here, very high, and the fact that the temperature has been under 85 all this summer is important. We humans cannot handle the change to 97 very well.  I bring this up because we are putting up more hay bales tomorrow. We hire local High School boys to work for us. We pay them well.  I am worried the everyone is going to suffer in the heat...maybe have heat related problems....certainly hubby. I told him that I didn't want to take anyone to the hospital for heat exhaustion, or stroke. Hum...I think that he could care less. I just know that I will be watching everyone closely while working.

It is Time to Hay!!! Getting Started!

I just took this photo from the front door of our farmhouse. The hay is ripe and the weather seems to be perfect to make hay. The grass hay has nice ripe grass seed heads, and all the pollen is gone.

This photo shows how close the hayfield is to our front door. Yes, there are 2 birdbaths in the photo. Why? The one on the left is specifically for winter, it has a thermostatically controlled heating element. It is great to keep open water for the winter birds. Did you notice the foxglove I am growing, why, because it is something that deer will not eat.

The cutting of the grass hay has begun. The standing grass is 5' to 6' tall.

Another photo showing the work in progress. The top roof of the tractor is visible in the top middle of the photo.

This is another photo showing behind the house, where the lawn is next to a fence where is grass is very tall. As you can see the area around us is Forest. The Willamette National Forest to be exact. I guess that it is no surprise that we are having trouble with wild animals here.

I hope that the haying goes well. We hire High School students to "buck bales", the hard work that is too much for us older folks. We pay them fairly with cash. There is not much work for pay in this area....so we offer the work to young men we know.

2011 Hay Season is OVER!

Today is the last day, July 6th.... and all the hay is cut, baled and in the barns. Hurrah!  We had no equipment breakdowns....a very good thing. Nice green grass hay, and normal crop too.  Now we officially start summer. My dear Hubby survived another stressful season, you see...he gets very worried and anxious over hay.  My biggest thank you to our good friend, David M, he brings a voice of reason and calm to my hubby.  Our other friend who willingly bucked bales, Bill D, and nephew Ben.....thank you so much.  Our hired hands, Logan, Jesse, and Jordan....thanks!


Oh, and someone just called...wanting to buy hay of course. Sorry...all gone.


Later this month...a day of torture to put up my sister's hay, about 700 bales. Ugh!