Sunday, June 14, 2015

Mowing hay...



Yesterday it began.  NumberOneSon has been checking and greasing and preparing the tractors and equipment for the big run.  Haying is beginning!  The men were inspecting one large part of our hayfields and found that there was weevil in it, eating away and killing the alfalfa, so it was either cut it a little early or lose it entirely to the nasty bugs.

The men are excited about haying this year because we have three new pieces:  a mower, a wheel rake, and a baler.  The tractors are old, but they're trustworthy and willing to pull.  So this new Vermeer mower is quite the deal!  We are used to running a swather, but this little honey is speedy, wide, and can really cut the hay down.  What normally took the swather 12 hours to cut, only took about 8 hours.  The next step after the mowing is to rake the hay, turn it over, and then follow behind and bale it up.  I'm excited because I will be one of the haying crew who will rake up hay.  I have a nifty little open-air tractor that I just love to drive.  I like it because I can stand up or sit down and I get that open air, free feeling when I'm out turning hay.  I'm really hoping that the bugs aren't too bad this year.  So far the mosquitoes have been especially numerous, but I think with the breeze blowing on me and the heat of the engine, I should be fairly bug free.  I will, however be prepared.  I ordered some mosquito netting for our hats and heads since there were none to be found locally, and of course, there's Deep Woods Off if my natural stuff doesn't work.

We were all excited about our new implements and all the children took their turns riding with Daddy to see how the new mower would work.  The rest of us watched from the field and admired what a fine job it did.  This morning we would have gone to work raking the hay, but it rained .6" early in the morning and so we left it to dry out for the day.  It's been a cool, cloudy day here today so I'm not sure how much drying-out the hay did.  We'll get 'er done sooner or later.

In the meantime, I enjoyed walking through my veggie gardens and my flower gardens, admiring what God does in the seasons.  We brought the cows home from two different pastures.  You can see one bunch out beyond my flowers.  I had the pleasure of walking behind another bunch of cows and calves trailing them part of the way home, minus the wet areas where the mosquitoes would have carried me away!

Happy Sunday.
..................................................................

"But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
Because he has dealt bountifully with me."
~Psalm 13 5,6

7 comments:

  1. I love the photo of your delphiniums! We have alfalfa on our new property. It is more weed than alfalfa. I wish I could hay it. We don't have the equipment so somebody else will have to do it for us. I agree with you it is more fun to be in the open air. I have air in my jeep, but would much rather take the top and doors off.

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  2. Aren't new implements fun?The hours you will save cutting!! Wow! We will be cutting next week, and then that will be it for the year. With the drought, we are out of water. I really love the view from your garden. It is beautiful. ~Julia

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  3. Your flowers are just gorgeous Jody! And it's so pretty there -- you're lucky you're out west -- not much hay baling going on here -- it's been raining for days. I think your tractor driving job, under the wide blue skies, sounds like heaven!

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  4. New toys! What fun. And the flowers are lovely.
    Amalia
    xo

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  5. Love the verse you ended with. It's always great to have the equipment that makes the job go better. Your garden is beautiful! Hope that hay dried...

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  6. It is so lovely and pretty and green. That is one thing I do love is the smell of freshly mown hay. Nothing smells better than that. I am so glad you got new implements. That is wonderful.
    Your garden is very pretty too. I love seeing the cows in the background.

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  7. Good times! Glad you enjoy the work and being out in the air. Oddly, our mosquitoes here on the NC coast seem not to really have arrived yet. Now that it's 100º, I'm wondering if they're coming at all. I've heard they don't like cold or high heat. We'll see. Happy haying!

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