The last of the alfalfa hay is in. The hay field was raked into windrows yesterday morning. Then the radar began to threaten rain. Radars can be very threatening. And rain is only a threat when the hay is laying all defenseless and golden on the ground. Otherwise I would say that the radar was promising rain. How fickle. Frailty thy name is weather. 
The twist test showed that the hay was good and dry. Thank you Linda on your Colorado Farm for your help with the finer details of haymaking. So much to learn as I began my journey of a thousand turns in our little two acre field. 
TT had the camera. The dogs and John walked with me to make sure everything was in working order before they went off to get the truck and load. 
Often we have trouble with the bales not knotting which can be fixed if caught in time. Our bales are never that tight anyway. Which is another skill we will learn as we go along. The baler is so old and we are so new. 
In the end we brought in 40 bales. That is not a lot but in such a dry year it is better than most. That will feed Daisy, a large lactating cow, for about 30 days. I am still hoping for some late summer rain so we get a bit of grass growing. Well a girl can hope. The neighbours came down to help and each small precious bale of nutritious hay was lifted one by one into the loft and carefully stored. We were all very hot and covered in dust, streaked with sweat and had tiny shards of itchy hay stuck to our bodies. The feeling of growing and baling your own hay is deeply satisfying.
Good morning. Just as we were all standing around the trucks saying thank you and good bye yesterday, it started to rain. Then it stopped. We all looked dissappointed. But an hour or so later just as I was fully engaged in milking and feeding, the wind came up and it poured down. I had to pull on my oil skin and button it to my ankles. I came in from work dripping, my face and hair washed by the rain and The Matriarch was unpacking dinner. What a perfect day! Then later in the night it poured again. How brilliant was that.
That kind of timing is straight from heaven. And now that the ground is a little damp I shall weed again today. Being Sunday, and as you know I don’t cook on a Sunday.
Have a lovely day. You can uncross your fingers now. I know how difficult it is to type with crossed fingers!!
celi
On this day a year ago.. a little walk down the back.
The Kitchen's Garden 
45 responses to “Make Sun then the Hay Shines”
Glad you got your hay, and your rain, too. Love how the community comes together to help–good people.
How wonderfully satisfying to see those bales of hay stacked safely away. And then came the rain. What an enormous relief for you Celia. I hope you are having a wonderful Sunday Virginia
Hooray! You got rain at the right time! I’m so relieved for you! x
Hip, Hip, Hooray! Loud cheers are resounding across the hemispheres. The hay is in and THEN it rained. How perfect can that be? I laughed aloud at your phrase, ‘Frailty, thy name is weather’!
I was wondering if you might get some second growth once the rain arrives, or if that was just a NZ thing. A full larder, cellar and hay barn, and milk still gushing from dear Daisy, that sounds like farmer satisfaction to me.
Ahhhhhh that sweaty, itchy feeling with the aroma of freshly baled hay dancing around your head’……..very fond memories brought back! Thank you Celi!
Ah! What a relief it must be to have some rain, well-timed and not endangering the hay. It is quite special to hear you give a “thank you” to a fellow blogger for some tips on bringing in the hay. It just strikes me that it is such a wonderful experiencing learning from one another! We had “runaway” pets at the end of last week (all ended well) and I thought of you with keeping everyone in their pens. I had to chuckle…I can’t even do it with a tortoise and hare! 🙂 Hugs for a brand new week. Hope the weeding went well with nice freshened soil! 🙂 Debra
Great line: “Frailty thy name is weather.” Really excellent comment.
So glad the hay is done – you can sleep good tonight ( skunkless, hopefully)
Now everyone can go back to the rain dances.
The temperature in my house is 28 celcius and it’s cool compared to outside. How did you ever do all that work in that heat…no wonder you nearly collapsed a few days ago. Congrats on getting the hay in. And it’s not even enough to secure the winter feeds? Yowsers…
The only labour I’ve undertaken (beside stomping with my walk buddy and volunteering at the Theater) was to keep my neighbour’s veggie garden and my miscellaneous growth watered over the past week of scorching temps (for us). Duc was on rabbit duty so the garden would be untouched during our care.
Rather than head for the beach in this heat, I hung out with Duc under a shade tree. I did Sudoku while Duc lolled in tall grasses only showing his perfect feline profile.
🙂 ! I Having read all the above I just wonder and hope whether virtual clapping, cheering and all this ‘help’ are taken note of by the Powers above to bring just a tad more satisfaction and success to you . . . ? If that be, you should literally be ‘home and hosed’ 🙂 !
So glad that you guys got some rain! That is perfect timing. 🙂
Hooray for the rain! Did your farm clothes come out de-skunked? Brilliantly funny story yesterday. I so look forward to reading your daily adventures. 🙂
I ma so happy for you! I hope you will have a great week!
Rain “straight from heaven” is so right.
Always going for freshly-baled hay; never having actually mowed it. I think of David Mallet’s song: “you got to make hay while the sun shines; that’s what all of the hill people say; you just keep the load wide, keep your eye on the sky; and make sure it’s dry when you put it away.”