This is why I can never be called Organic.

This is Daisy eating her GM free corn stalks.  She always pulls the best faces!

Minutes later the little red plane roared back overhead.  And this time the spraying was very thorough and very close. The USDA has approved even heavier sprayings of crops and the soil now. Please be careful of what you eat. At its simplest we will wash an apple before we eat it but these mega crops are not washed before they are added to your cereals, breads, beef, etc, etc, etc. Not only corn and soy either, GM potato skins have some of the highest rates of residual pesticides than any other food, the list of dangerous foods is long. This is why I grow as much of my own food as I can. This is why I wish you could too. And this little plane on his second trip over the corn in the field next to me  made me want to run for the hills.  

I just wanted to hide. To get far away from the industrial cropping. It is hard to farm the old fashioned way here.

And while we are on the bad news the chickpea is lost. I could not find him yesterday. Both peahens are back in the top of the barn looking a little confused.  No sign of the baby. There is safety in numbers and little chickpea was a flock of one, next year we shall make a plan to increase the numbers and I will keep the hens in the Palace. What happened to your baby, Pania?  Like the cats, we will never know. 

However with all the troubles that farm life throws at us the universe is always careful to deal some successes too. (The secret is to SEE the good stuff) and this good stuff is hard to miss. ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY NINE bales of good dry hay off our little two acres of hay field.

Even The Hay Man was surprised.  While he and his father baled the hay, his young sons and I went down the rows and picked some bags of fresh sweetcorn, to take home for their dinner.  Yes, I know it was freshly sprayed, but hopefully the wrapping has kept the kernels safe.

The view from atop the stack of hay. My little square oasis.

This happens every year. The spraying. At least this time it was a very calm day and the spray dropped straight down so the farm was not hit with very much drift. But some will be on the hay and some will be on the vegetables. We can only hope that the fields of clover, that the bees are working at the moment, were not sprayed.

Last night we carried roughly half the bales of hay into the barn and today I shall do my best to carry the rest in by myself. It is The Matriarchs day out after I have visited The Old Codger, (Friday is a favourite day)  and there is rain in the forecast for this afternoon so I had better get started and get the rest of that hay under cover. The scent of the newly baled hay is delicious!

You have a lovely day too. I have a fairly heavy busy day ahead but all the hard work makes sense when you have a good stock of hay at your back.

your friend on the farm, celi