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
The Kitchen's Garden 
51 responses to “This is why I can never be called Organic.”
I’m so sorry to hear this. You’re battling to do the right thing and it seems this is not respected. I’m pleased to hear it wasn’t a windy day, blowing the poison all over you. But that’s good news on the hay! xx
That’s terrible (about the spraying). There should be a better was to “opt out”. It’s a good reminder to keep trying to eat as much whole food (and organic) as possible.
ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY NINE bales – wow, I couldn’t be prouder than if I’d baled them myself! That is it, I’m starting my veg garden in the spring. My self seeded tomato plant still has its 2 tomatoes and they are still getting bigger, but not ripe. Amazing we haven’t had any frost this winter. That little plane is pretty, pity it is so rude. Laura
Your attitude about the missing little bird is a good example for dealing with life’s disappointments. “This happened, and now I’m busy with that.” Since there’s nothing you can do about it anyway, you just take notice and get on with it.
You attitude about the missing chickpea is a symbol of dealing with life’s problems.
“This bad thing happened, but I can’t linger on it; there are too many other chores to deal with.”
I hope all problems can be so easily manageable.
I am surrounded by farm fields on our little property—I cringe everytime they show up to “spray” the fields. Both on sprayers and crop dusters!!! I usually hide in the house but can certainly smell the chemicals in the air. I try to have my well tested each year! An area farmer told me to never buy honey from the locals–to much chemicals used on the farm lands here–that’s scary.
I just love all of your farmy friends!
oh this plane… lets hope they will get it one day and stop sending it. good thing about the hay! have a nice week end!
Snorts – I just love the picture of Daisy – she’s like, “Can’t a girl eat in peace honey?” Snorts – XOXO – Bacon
My goodness. How many times a year do they spray? I hate that for you. We doubled our hay crop this year so I know how you feel. I felt 20 lbs. lighter when I heard about ours. Takes a little pressure off for the winter.
So sorry to hear about the pea chick Celi. I think the peacock mothers, plus guinea mothers have a hard time keeping the predators away. Last year we gathered up about 20 baby keets as soon as they hatched, put them in the brooder, where they all survived. This year, 3 mothers sat the nest, and 16 hatched and moved off with the 3 mothers. We put the remaining 15 eggs in the incubators and thought we’d let the mothers raise the ones who hatched naturally. This was about 3 days ago, and already the chicks have gone from 16 to 11. We keep looking for them, and they are hanging around, but the number of keets is decreasing. Probably next year we’ll grab them all up and put them in the brooder to increase their chances of survival. Your hay looks soooo wonderful!!!! We need to get moving and find a good deal and put ours away for the winter too!!! xo
How many bales did you use last winter?
I am sorry for Chickpea. Next year hopefully you will have peachicks aplenty.
Love the photo of Daisy – it’s a Classic, but sorry to hear your nearby fields were sprayed. This is one of the hard facts of life. Try as you might to have uncontaminated crops, you can’t trust the neighbours.
This spraying is so dangerous to all of the environment… but with ex Mosanto directors now employed in the FDA.. all kinds of compromise at the demise of the general public will happen and the rich will get richer… watch out for your bees that they are not compromised by the spraying….
Bravo tfor he hay. Perhaps Chickpea will turn up. Grrrr the sprayers. Do they warn you, so that you can harvest anything that’s ready? It really should not be allowed.
Love,
ViV
The hay is wonderful good news! A supply of hay and a supply of fire wood is a very comforting thing!
When my peahens were laying, we would start out with up to 24 little ones and end up with one or two. The mortality rate is high. A friend with guineas has found the same to be true. She hunts up the nests, gathers the eggs and puts them in an incubator.
You must have more spray plane activity than we do here. But, we don’t have much irrigated corn. Wheat, peas, hay, and some dry-land corn.
Happy hay stacking!