Lovely Cup of Chai

Alright,  my blog topics are all over the place.  One theme I recognize through out my posts is reference to those little surprises in life that represent, EASY when you thought surely, HARD.  Take Chai for example.  Have you tried it?  Chai means tea in many cultures.  In this country we've come to know it as a spicy tea drink usually mixed with milk.  A combination of cardamon, ginger,cinnamon, and black pepper...how could it be wrong?  It  produces a warming, soothing effect.  I don't know if it's the spices themselves or the whole experience. I do know it gives me a sense of well being.  I can't really explain it.  I also know it's difficult to resist a second cup.  Once I discovered it I craved it. As is often the case with new love you seek it out. You go back and back to it's origins.  Then as if magic, it appears in more and more places. You can grab a cup at most coffee shops, Starbucks included.  Warm or cold whatever you fancy.   I then began to find it at various stores in those cardboard cartons they're packaging so much in now.   Take it home, add milk....ahhhhh!

I believe it was after the second carton that I realized what a rip off it was but I continued my addiction.  Let's see...the carton had about 4 servings (mugs) and cost almost $5 and you had to add your milk of choice too.  If you bought 4 tea bags you wouldn't be close.  Now mind you I'm not trying to be critical.  I know products take a lot of care to make but as is often the case you can do it a lot more economically on your own.  On top of the economics if you buy quality ingredients you'll often have a better outcome.   I know, it's only a rip off if you buy it but I was!  You can buy the spiced tea bags but somehow I still wasn't getting the same result.  Truth is, I went without my occasional fix for sometime.  Then, the other day I came across the recipe.  So, here it is....that easy, simple fast surprise recipe for Chai tea and I'm telling you it's the best I've ever had.

Chai Tea 

1 teaspoon peppercorns

8 cardamom pods

8 whole cloves

2 sticks of cinnamon

Star Anise

6 black tea bags

1 Cup of milk (almond, coconut, whole, whatever your choice)

2 Tablespoons sugar

Lightly crush your spices and place in a saucepan with 6 cups of water.  Bring your water to a boil and add the tea bags.  Remove from heat and let steep for desired amount of time.  For me it's when I got back to it. I believe it was actually several hours.  Strain the mixture and it's ready to go.  

Here's what I did.  Strained the mixture, added the almond milk (I had some left from someone's visit and it sounded like a good way to use it) and stored it, mixed in the fridge until ready to use.  When I want some I pour it into my cup and heat it, then I add the desired amount of sweet which I must admit I like.  Something about the sweetness up next to those dark, intense spices...um, um, ummmm...

I enjoy an afternoon cup of tea but somehow the spices and the milk  give you that cozy comfort that I often need in the middle of the afternoon. 

When your facing THIS...a warm cup of comfy is ALL RIGHT!

Looking for Llama's

Sometimes my job is so hard!  All the folks who think they'd love this job probably picture all the cuteness I'm exposed to.  They are right!  From wee ones to grown ups, they have personalities and faces you just cannot help but adore!  Llama's are just one of the employee benefits here at Stoney Mountain Farm!

Lucy, our guard llama

See the tree line to the right?  Way over there is where the new fence will be!  Our house is off to the left

Our farm is shaped like a rectangle.  We occupy and have fenced one half of the length of the rectangle.  We have a whole other half to go!  My husband jokes he'll be fencing the rest of his life.  He does build a pretty fence though.

Regardless of how 'purdy' our fence is we're about to extend to areas of the farm not visible to the house and separated from primary areas of activity.  That makes me mighty nervous.


What makes me nervous you might ask?  As sheep farmers, our big concern is predators.  The number one predator of sheep is the domestic dog.  Sad, right?  My husbands father's sheep business was wiped out by roaming dogs in the '60's.  Some say it is the very reason  sheep farms have declined.   Besides that, coyotes are said to be everywhere.  We haven't seen or heard them yet but others swear they have.  The call of a coyote is said to be so shrill and specific.   I've spent many an evening outside listening for them and haven't heard anything.  Mind you I'm not a coyote expert, in fact I can't say that I've ever heard one.  They say there is no howl like it so you will know when you hear it.  Whether our threat is real or perceived the risk is such that guard animals become necessary.

Guard animals are widely discussed in any predator prone livestock farming.  Not so much with cattle folks cause cattle are large enough they don't have many predators.  For us raising sheep we have to consider our farm perimeter as our number one defense. That 'purdy' fence turns in to an impenetrable fortress, we hope.  We spend a lot of money getting the right fence and feed husband well so we get the fence right!  After all the fencing,  predators can still be a worry so guard animals act as our second line of defense.  Folks use dogs, donkeys, and llamas.  We've chosen llamas for our pastures.  Our dogs watch over the exterior fence lines but on their own schedules, rarely after the sun goes down.

Our Woven wire fence.  3" spacing from the bottom, graduated to 5" spacing

I'm posting today to share one of my many "irresistible" moments on the farm. Opening more pastures creates a need for more llamas.  Hence,we went llama shopping!

Your right to ask, where do you shop for llamas?  Llama farmers are not in the business to support those of us looking for guard llamas.  Llamas can be quite beautiful and therefore demand a lot of money.  Our needs do not require decedents of llama royalty.  We have met many a lady and lord llama along our journey.  No, we'll happily take an outcast or a family disappointment.  All we ask is they watch over our flock and scare off any unwanted trouble makers.

As I said in the beginning, no matter the price tag attached, every single one has personality.  They have a job here on the farm but they also become part of the family!  The search continues.  My difficult job will soon result in more on farm llama cuteness.  I don't get paid much but the rewards are incredible!

Winter Garden

Garlic in the Snow

Winter gardening, it's kind of an oxymoron isn't it?  Planting and harvesting fresh green vegi's in the winter months, really?  Now I'm convinced everyone should try it!  If I didn't have my prepared garden beds I'd have pots and beds on my patio and small containers of started seeds all over my kitchen window sill awaiting their place outside.   As much as my hubby and I eat lettuce and the like, I plant seeds a few at a time so I have an extended harvest, or in plain English....lettuce all the time!

Have you noticed the price of fresh foods lately?  It's crazy!  If you really pay attention to the quality of those fresh  foods it's even crazier!  In our house we eat a lot of fresh vegetables so anything I grow rather then buy really makes a difference to our bottom line.  Heck, just keeping me out of the store is worthwhile.  Farm life keeps me a bit secluded some weeks and the grocery store becomes an outing I look forward to (sad but true) and that is not the formula for walking out with only 1-2 items!  So, when I don't have to make that quick trip to the store for the perishable things we seem to always need most, it saves money and time.  Let's not forget the increased health benefits from the garden freshness too.  The vitamins are at their peak when picked. For me, knowing exactly how the food is grown and handled adds that much more satisfaction!

Arugula at 3 weeks

Tango Lettuce at 4 weeks

I'm going to make a huge leap and assume anyone reading this knows the basics of growing something.   If  you  think you don't know how to grow something I encourage you do get some dirt and try.  I am reminded of the many times in my life I avoided a challenge because I was convinced I couldn't do it.  Does anyone excel at anything until they've first made a few feeble attempts?  I didn't say until they got it right cause I don't believe that usually applies...my lettuce probably won't look like your lettuce  so where is the "right" in growing it?  Besides, as they say, we never know til we try, right?  Having a garden or just something growing from seed  is so easy and so rewarding and I think you'll find yourself successfully harvesting something on your very first try.  I cannot begin to tell you how cool it feels to pick those leaves and put them straight in your mouth!  Hints: keep it moist and give it sun...that's all you need to know. Whether from your window sill or your patio...it matters not.  To begin a winter gardening adventure all that is required of you is to pick something you'd like to grow.  Lettuce and arugula I've already mentioned., well how about spinach?  If space is an issue or you just want to start small;  lettuce, arugula and spinach are excellent choices.  A clay pot on your window sill would easily accommodate any of these choices.  If you have more space cabbage, fava beans, brussel sprouts just to name a few more.   Some of my very favorite resources for seeds are, Johnny's, Pinetree, and Territorial Seeds.  Each resource offers excellent quality seeds with a great variety of choices and customer service has been superb with each.  I find Pinetree offers smaller quantities on many of the items which better accommodates the home gardener.  So, pick that something that you want to grow, where your going to plant it and if it will be outdoors figure something to cover it when the temperatures are going to drop below freezing.   That's all it takes!

Onion that doubles as chive like herb

Some might say nothing is quite as pretty in a winter garden.  Although the winter garden always shows signs of harsh winter realities (or my forgetting to cover them up when temps drop below 30),  I say the color contrast from the browns and greens, sometimes capped with snow are really quite pretty.   There are certainly no bugs to contend with in a winter garden.  The leaves I see so many rake and pile by the road side...the best mulch ever.  If a small bed or pot is your choice the leaves crumble beautifully between your hands and are an excellent source of carbon for your soil too!
The winter garden is also stress free. Less yield for me gives me more flexibility for the when and how the food gets from the garden to our plates. In the prime growing months when the bounty is brimming I sometimes find getting out there to pick before things get over ripe haunts me.  Preparing that bounty before it goes to waste...I sometimes get stressed about that too.   Don't get me wrong, I love making preserves, canning tomatoes or just preparing that fabulous freshness from our garden. Let's face it, when those vines are spilling over and the branches weep from weight I often have plenty else to do.  So, winter gardening  reminds me how manageable it can be and when it is, I am more inclined to enjoy it.  It kind of re-exposes me to the  'root' of it all and I look forward to the bounty ahead.

I hope you will all find some seeds, whether you flip the pages of a catalogue or grab a pack as your standing in the check out of your favorite home improvement store, choose a vessel, and give it a try!  I promise it will brighten even the gloomiest of winter days.

The rams are back in their pasture

Each year in the fall the rams (boy sheep) get moved in with ewes (girls)...it's breeding time!  Since my background isn't in livestock or farming I am inclined to blush at the sites and thoughts of all the goings on around here.  I have an even greater imagination when it comes to the romancing I'm convinced takes place.

We have different pastures with different rams in each pasture.  We decide which ram goes with which ewes based on blood lines.  We just want to be sure there's no inbreeding.  Not too long ago I had someone jokingly say, "picking their beau's are you?"  Believe me, I did not laugh that off.  For a day or so I had to wrestle with the possibility that I might be involved in arranged marriages of sorts. Making the final decision for these girls, really!

 My justification rested in the fact that every ram on this farm is handsome and therefore these gals wouldn't mind.  I mean they don't have to rely on them for anything other then pretty babies and I hope a romantic evening, of sorts.

 So, the day approaches sometime in October each year.  We watch the calender.  For the sheep, the rams especially, they know.  This year Mi Sueno, our #1 ram, stood in the corner of his pasture for some 30 days before it was time.  Longingly staring at the ewes in the adjoining pastures.  They say the moon, stars and earths influences tell them it's that time of year again.

The other rams didn't show much interest but they haven't been around the block as many times as Mi Sueno so they're not quite as tuned in.  With very specific direction we send each ram strategically to they're perspective harem.  It is such a change in dynamics on the farm I stick around and feed my imagination.  I know when she bats those eyelashes...I saw it!     As I describe to anyone who wants to listen, each of our rams has a very different style.  Mi Sueno,  magnificent as he is, has one thing on his mind.  It is a job.  It's not work he'd trade for anything but that's all it is, his job.  He joins the gals one day, does his job, and regardless of the number of days past on the calender, he tells us when he is ready to get leave the mixed company!  Each year we know, when Mi Sueno starts getting rough with girls, he's had enough of whatever they were offering...he has forgotten again for another 12 months.

White Lightening is a handsome young ram with great promise just not enough years to build a reputation.  I know he is just discovering who he is but I still contend they each have their own style. He hasn't shown a single sign that he bred or was interested in such.  We won't really know until it's lambing time but I've seen his type before, he's just the private type. He nibbles on their ears and asks them if they'd like to dance.  I've actually heard cooing before.

Yesterday we moved the rams back to their pasture.  As we open the gate for them to join their fellow rams,  they look back toward the ewes, as if to say, "am I sure about this" then forward they move to the other rams calling, "come and get us".

Each ram being different in character, one looks back at the ewes again and then at me saying please can I stay with the girls while another doesn't give it a second thought, off he goes ramming rams! Once together they butt heads jump on each other and bully about.  They are boys, happy to be back together.

So you see some might say they're just animals and that I have too vivid an  imagination but I say, nope, not too far from our own stories of romance...sans the music and candlelight!

Pickles!

I don't know about you but I love pickles.  Sweet, sour, spicy, chips, spears and those almost embarrassing whole ones...hey, I'm referring to the mere size...some so big we might wonder if one person could finish them..  Actually, I love anything "pickled" but today I am writing about the cucumber sort.  I have a recipe to share with you!  Pickles, pickled by the jar!  Yep, that's right...8-10 cucumbers, depending on the size and you can have yourself a jar of fabulous pickles waiting in your larder for the day your taste buds water for the garlicky, salt and vinegar cure of that firm crisp pickle!  You know the kind?  The kind addictions are made of.  Once the  the vinegar begins to manipulate the sides of your mouth there is no turning back.  Just one, are you kidding?

On our farm the garden is mostly about our own personal consumption and I'm learning how to deal with the various phases of the bounty.  Pickles are the reason I plant cucumbers.   The smaller (under 5" long)  cuc's are good for dill pickles. As long as the cucumbers aren't bitter (not enough constant water) and not too large (over 2" in diameter) they're always good for B&B's (bread & butters for those not familiar with pickle vernacular).  In my humble opinion FRESH picked is always key when it comes to pickles!  I don't believe I have ever met a pickle aficionado that wouldn't stick their nose up at soft pickles!

Now, listen up, a few successful canning's and an expert I am, NOT!  One of the reasons I am sharing this recipe; it is so darn easy.  I promise, if you try this recipe two things will happen.  1) You won't believe how easy it is.  2) You too will feel like an expert

I am the type with BIG ideas and not always enough time, or these days, energy to get er done. So, this recipe really appealed to me.  At the end of a long day working , destroying the kitchen with canning equipment spread from one end to the other doesn't appeal to me.  Another reason I like this recipe is the ease of dealing with your daily harvest.  In most home gardens the yield  is a few a day. So, collecting the quantity of pickles needed for most other recipes can be a pain.  Since the freshness of the pick contributes to the "

crisp

" of the bite, if you collect over time you'll have older cucumbers too. I believe the older ones have the potential to risk the crispness factor.  Now I know some of you are wondering about those pickles resting on the grocery shelf.  Don't think about!  I wouldn't even try it.  Just buy elsewhere.  There are plenty farmers and farmers markets around these days that freshness shouldn't be an issue. When the seasons not right, don't pickle. By the way, have you seen

straw bale gardening

?  Cucumbers are some kind of easy to grow.  

 When I found this recipe  I was stoked.  This is my third year using this recipe and I think I've finally perfected it.  I adapted it from a recipe I found in

Backhome

Magazine.

First, you want to wash your cucumbers well and snip the vine end, just a snip.  I'm told if left on the cucumber it can create a bacteria in the jar that would ruin the whole batch.  I'm not going to guide you through the basics of preparing the canning jars cause it is pretty basic stuff.  You want to sterilize each jar and the lids.  Any questions check out

Ball

site.

Using pint or quart size jars ( better for gifting) :

Place in the bottom of the jar

1 clove of garlic

1 healthy sprig of dill

1 dried hot pepper or a shake or 2 of hot pepper flakes (optional)

Next stuff each jar with as many cucumbers as possible.  I sometimes use a wooden spoon end to manuever the cuc's to make room.  They somehow snuggle up in the space.  Leave 1/2" headroom from the top of the jar.  If you'd prefer not to leave them whole the spears also work great in this recipe.

Add:

1-1.5 Tablespoon of non-iodized salt

1/2 cup white vinegar

Fill the rest of the jar w/ boiling water, again making sure to leave the 1/2" headroom.

Last but far from least place a fresh grape leaf on top of the jar before you seal it.  I know most of you won't have access to such a thing.  The old timers say it is the final step to assuring crispness.  Maybe a neighbor has some  grapes?  If they have grape vines, they have leaves a plenty.  Maybe it's the very thing needed to bring neighbor to neighbor?

Process in a water bath for 20 minutes.

Make sure the jars seal.

In 6-8 weeks your pickles will be ready for the tasting.  Don't dilute the experience with crackers or anything else for that matter.  You will not stop at eating one and you'll be running about the house bragging on your yummy treat.  No, me, I didn't do that.....

What comes at the end of a Blog?  Unresolved photo placement!

Morning Gifts

The sun has returned and the out doors has again been calling me! This particular morning, like most, I embarked on my morning chores, letting the chickens out and feeding and watering to begin the day.  Lucy, the llama, and about 13 teenagers reside in one pasture.  Until they have lambs the first time they remain a bit skiddish around humans...even John and me.  We don't breed our girls until they're at least a year old...it's a matter of physical development to me. They know the routine though. They are always watchful but they step right into the daily morning routine. 


Then I move on to the BIG girls, and they are BIG! They all have lambs by their side and they are pushy! I cannot out smart them and they do not listen to reason.  Believe me, I try! Guess they have alot on their mind raising the youngsters.  They know breakfast noshing is in the very near future.  Although they recognize my arrival is the first sign of breakfast they clearly think being on top of me will guarantee more, better....I don't know?  They each have their own personalities.  I have a time naming all the sheep...I cannot just give them a name, it has been very important to me to watch for their personalities, so, these gals really do live up to their names!  Don't tell my mother though who just happens to have a ewe with her name!  I won't go into too much detail here.  Naming deserves a whole post!

The main reason I am blogging today is a sighting here on the farm...we have a 2 acre pond that we've been told is one of the healthier ponds around.

 We don't manicure the perimeter of the pond and from what we're told that is one of the reasons it is so healthy. Many ponds are experiencing algae growth out of control brought in by the increasing Canadian geese population. We have been told fowl will avoid areas when their safety is challenged by over growth; they can't see an approaching predator.  It seemed a little contradictory to me that wildlife preferred manicured areas. Maybe those geese have been populating too many golf courses and roadsides? Maybe those geese have gotten a bit too citified and have forgotten the ways of nature?  
So yes, I am very glad we have a healthy pond but I am often disappointed that we don't have more birds. Well, this morning, much to my surprise... a female Mallard left the side brush to paddle to safety...away from me and off to the middle of the pond and I caught this....

  

Nature, ahhh!  The gifts she has to give....

Finding the Words

A degree in Marketing you'd think I'd love writing about Stoney Mountain Farm, our journey and our products.  The issue is not whether I like it or not, it's that it has become such an integral part of my day to day...it demands my action and my creative juices.  Maybe my zodiac sign would give some indication why I respond with rebellion?  I am sure my loved ones would have an opinion but I'm not asking! I am a very creative, very unorganized personality.  Try to put me on a schedule, it works for a few days.  Actually, a little structure feels good for a few days, but only a few.   I Blog, I do Facebook for the farm, Facebook for the Dryer Balls, I do Farmers Market news letter, I do Constant Contact...all require writing.  If you don't post, you don't stay in touch!  If you don't stay in touch....well, we all know what that means.
Alas, I have a growing business that requires outreach. 
The sad reality is I really love to write.
I'm sharing all this because a few posts back I felt the Blog calling me.  I felt remiss in my frequency of blogging.  I felt like I MUST write.  You know what you get when you try too hard?  Not your best work.  The topic was authentic but the content was forced.
I am sharing this because I hope I now can recognize the difference.  You can't force creativity.  Well, I guess you can but it's the difference between art and stuff, right?
This city girl turned farmer has had some incredible experiences on this farm that I know I should share. Many have asked me to.  I just have to give them words....

This little picture I adore.  I bought it at an antique store and it hangs over my desk as I try to find the words.  The caption "SEEING" as she looks in the mirror.

To find the words....I need to find my voice!

Finding your voice requires SEEING yourself.....

(My poor photography skills are the reason for the glare that looks like a moon above her head.  I actually moved her around hoping to remove the "moon"...instead of removing the glare, the moon moved!  Good, aren't I?)

The girls and a few token boys!

I'm sure you can agree that no farm is complete with out the early morning crow of a rooster.  No rooster is happy with out hens!
We are going on 5 years and just now officially adding the rooster:chicken:egg dimension to our farm plan.  A few years ago we added about 12 chickens and one MEAN rooster.  They graced our farm with their hen like cuteness for about 8 months and something came in one eve and left nothing but feathers for us to find the next morning.  We then decided then we couldn't have chickens until our fences were up and we could keep them secure.  We couldn't have them running round in the yard like "sitting ducks(chickens) for raccoons, weasels, neighbor dogs, and foxes just to name a few.  The locals all had different suspicions about the crime scene, all different.  We never arrested anyone!  I guess the whole occurrence made us a little gun shy, not sure we wanted to feel the heartbreak again.  So, wait we did.

We decided to bring chickens back to our farm operation primarily because it is the most efficient and healthiest method of fertilization being used today. And, you heard it from me...a rooster completes the farm!
As many of you have heard, our new chicken DIG's arrived.  The chicken house is now home to 45 hens and 3(maybe 4) roosters.  .  We chose hearty varieties of chickens that are good layers and we also wanted to stay true to our belief in heritage breeds.
Well as it goes the wee ones arrive and they begin their life under a heat lamp.  They grow FAST and eat ALOT.  A bit more then a month has passed and the girls and their few token boys have decended upon the pastures!  Here they are coming out for their first peeks.  I wish I could have captured this moment.  Now, they run about as if they own the place.  They do make us laugh.  My mom once said she could imagine them in the halls of congress, "clucking" issues out!  I have never been able to look at them the same since.

Flavor!

I wonder if I'd have taken the same 'journey through food' had I not become a farmer.   My passion for great food and cooking was established early on in my life.  My journey would help me understand that  FLAVOR begins with the seeds, the genetics, the roots, the dirt and the hands of a farmer.  I would learn that FLAVOR was determined at the beginning of our food origins.

I considered FLAVOR successes  the result of experience and creativity in the preparation...all attached to a finished product, say a fine cheese from a family that had been mastering the art for generations.  I didn't realize what you begin with, the raw ingredients, could have such an impact on the final result. I thought, and why wouldn't I, that any bright green pepper without blemishes would provide the absolute complexity of any other green pepper anywhere, right?

SlowFood, founded in Italy in 1986 and soon after taking root throughout the US, helped me realize that the integrity of our food was in jeopardy.  I became reacquainted with the most basic "ingredients" in my food experiences. I became educated to "organics" and familiar with "local" economies and the benefits of eating local.  Farmers Markets were popping up everywhere.  My thirst for fresh, local, healthy, juicy, FLAVOR full options became obvious.    About the same time I saw the emergence of terms like "heritage" breeds and "heirloom" varieties...FLAVORS surpassed for bigger, prettier, faster growing, and disease resistant options.  All these sheep, pigs, cows, and chickens with distinct flavors and natural lean qualities that couldn't keep up with the demands of the factory farm operations, too small, too slow growing, and not domesticated enough....all being replaced.  As for our fruits and vegi's that were a little too fragile, or not pretty enough...also being replaced.   As for our intimate food experiences, who had the time anymore? 

Before now the naive belief that getting food to us faster, making it last longer, have a better shelf life, more of it and cheaper prices had been the perceived solution in our growing society. We were paying a huge price to achieve our goals. FLAVOR was gradually being sacrificed, but how were we to know?

My move to the farm brought the venue for my continued adventure down FLAVOR lane. With fresh vegi's from my garden and other farmers it became more and more apparent, the FLAVOR differences were so obvious.  I believe my first mind blowing experience was the almighty tomato.  Who doesn't know the difference between a garden fresh, ripened by the sun, hopefully heirloom tomato and a store bought, well traveled, refrigerated alternative?  As I walked from my own garden with a spear of asparagus, watching the water flow from the freshly cut end, I realized I felt almost robbed.   My ONLY experience with asparagus had been on my plate or in the grocery store with the ends dry and looking like the corrugated threads of cardboard.  Walking toward my house that tender spear didn't have a chance, YUM!  Even if you could bite into that pale green flesh at a grocery you wouldn't because tender, as we've known it, happened only after cooking.  I bought carrots at the farmers market so sweet I'd swear I'd eaten a decadent dessert and lettuce varieties of all kinds, spicy, sweet, crisp and curled, dark green, light and even red.  WOW!  I was like a child learning the nuances of the very food I'd been so passionately consuming. Everything grabbed my senses. It wasn't until I realized FLAVOR was a choice not a given that I began to really pay attention.  
So, whats the most important take away from my journey...we must engage in where our food comes from.  I know we are all going through a food revolution of sorts. Those at the most basic end of the spectrum might be questioning buying from the big box stores, while others like me can barely shop in a grocery store at all.  As I said I am lucky to have healthful, FLAVORFUL, fresh options mostly outside my door.  My hope is at the very least you are all awakened by some morsel of food that makes your mouth water and your tongue dance too.  I am more and more convinced we each have to find our way back to REAL SLOW WHOLE  Food. 
To be continued.......

Hay. A little three letter word that packs a PUNCH!

It's that time again on the farm. We cut and bale hay in the spring and fall, as if once per year wasn't enough. There are a lot of chores on a farm but I'm here to tell you this is without a doubt the most dreaded. I thought I would share some baling 101 hoping it will provide some comedy relief for me and maybe a bit for you?

There are 2 options for bale structure,

round bales... or square...

There is no disagreement that round bales are easier by a long shot. They're easier and less expensive to bale and once baled they're easily handled and moved. With the round bales weighing in around 1200#'s, you drive up to the bale with your tractor (every farm must have a tractor...every girl too but that's topic for another Blog) and a spear like implement attached to the tractor. You literally spear the bale and you move it easily where ever you need. The dreaded square bale, weighing in at 45-60#'s must be manually lifted from the ground (we don't have the modern conveyor belt system that loads the bales) and stacked on a trailer to be moved to storage. Everyone knows a girls upper body is not the best for throwing, especially throwing 50#'s...and UP no less.

Wondering why we've chosen square bales? Although we continue to try to invent a way to feed our sheep the hay from a round bale we haven't come up with a system yet. The round bale stands some 6' tall. The sheep eat pulling from above, pulling hay right down on their beautiful wool. It can actually ruin a whole fleece. So, until we create another system, square baling it is!

Another side note about putting up hay, to add to the misery ....hay ALWAYS goes up later in the afternoon which means heat. Your sweating from the physical work and the sun beating down on you as you lift these 50# bales.   You always have hay bits flying in your clothes and sticking to every exposed inch of you...does it sound fun?

OK, you think it's over?

NOT!

Now we must unload the same hay into the barns and stack it for storage. OMG. Yesterday we were doing just that and I was trying to explain to my husband that yes, I can do this but I am a girl! You have to know my husband, he says, "yes, but your a FARM girl"...no way out of that one! I love this farm but when it's time for this chore I find myself creating excuses, like I was 12 again! When I imagined this place I guess I thought hay would just be bought and delivered, no work there. I didn't realize the finance's of farming (or lack thereof ). The cost of hay continues to rise and with the drought we have more and more need.

Let me introduce you to something I'm REAL proud of...Our John Deere T-24 from the 60's. The very first square baler John Deere made. She's an antique alright. Everything on her moves, nothing electronic on this baby. She can be temperamental but who wouldn't be with that age...but she's tough. I don't know what it is with me but I just love watching her work.

I like having the right stuff to get things done. I don't mind driving the equipment, I don't mind a little of anything...but 300 bales of hay in a day!


I keep threatening to call all my "city" girlfriends that go to the gym for their daily workouts.  I'll bet they'd have some major sore going on the next day.

I imagine I'll always dread this oh so necessary part of livestock farming.  I must admit, the smell of the fresh cut grass and the barn stacked high with the forage for the long winter ahead feels mighty good!

Winter, did someone say winter?  I'll take some cool after this day!