That’s better than a poke in the eye with a charcoal stick isn’t it?!
Though the morning started off with a very pessimistic attitude.
It was looking like rain, showers were blowing over, the wind was a gale and the hay was still too wet due to the humidity and spotty rain in the night but by the afternoon the rain had held off and the sun was out, so I went out with my fork and rolled all the hay over so the wet underside was in the sun and retrieved all the hay that had been blown into the bean field. By 5pm we had bales in the barn. And I began to breathe again. The tension had been awful.
The bales are still on the hay rack in the barn across the way, because that is where I will be needing this batch during the winter, but they are out of the weather and I can go over each day and unload at my leisure. Though stacking hay is not exactly a leisure activity.
The chicks are in their intermediary home – the stock trailer aka The Black Mariah.. it is nice and big and out of the weather while they are still small. I am starting to feed them their hay now that we have some good stuff. 
It was a lovely warm day yesterday. 
But by the time I was finished I was staggering tired. 
Have a lovely day.
Love your friend on the farm
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
55 responses to “124 Bales”
A huge job well done. Hope you get to coast today!
124 Bales YAY. that picture of Sheila in her wallow is one of pure bliss (hers) 🙂 Hope you manage at least 10mins hammock time with a nice cool smoothie today! Laura
Yes we are getting close to the summer smoothie season, however i still have to UNLOAD the 124 bales! But I am doing it in shifts, Tuesdays and Fridays and busy days anyway.. c
This sounds like a good day to while up one of those wonderful drinks you posted a few years ago: it had oranges, milk, and Vodka! And you were right; the milk didn’t curdle!
you have a such a memory for that drink ronnie… i will need to get some organic citrus, c
Oh haying. Not my idea of a fun time although getting a crew of family members together to haul and mow it makes it almost close to fun. My happy day was when the round baler rolled onto our farm. Your hay wagon looks satisfied with its load. Nice job well done. And to think you went out there with a fork to turn the hay. You are an amazing woman.
Miserably I am a little short (read NONE) on able bodied family members, so i do it by myself, john can help in the evenings but he gets very tired from his job.It is only a two acre field and i hate to run a machine over hay more than I have to, the hay-rake shakes too many leaves off at that point, a gentle turn with my ptchfork was all it needed and my arms got a good work out!…c
No wonder you were staggering tired. That’s nice looking hay, but it’s a lot of work, isn’t it? Still, at least it’s all under cover before you have to go lift, haul, stack, lift, haul, stack…. That Sheila knows how to enjoy her mud bath, eh?
Wonderful news! I hope you slept well.
Three or four times a year I too tired to read before i go to sleep, last night was one of those! c
I love those rectangular bales rather than this huge rolls; we almost never see the rectangular ones here anymore. We got your rain overnight, but the garden needed it. It’s been hot and humid here but I’m loving it.
The bonus of having a small herd, plus i can carry a small bale (they call them square bales here for no reason i can see) , the big rolls need a big tractor.. c
Oh yes, we finally found a fella that bales “girl bales” for us. 2 wire bales that are easy to lift. Those 800 lb square bales had flakes that would flatten me when it fell over on me. We have a 5 acre field that gives us enough grass hay to see us thru the winter. We won’t be haying until mid July. Glad yours is all done and in the barn. You got to love that Sheila. Now, she knows how to relax.
Whew. What a huge sigh of relief. I dreamed about you last night. You’d invited the entire (ENTIRE) fellowship over for dinner, and I was there making ravioli with some lovely person I’d never met before. A good time was had by all. The hay is beautiful.
How cruel of me to leave you in the kitchen! But JUST IMAGINE if we all went to Milan for dinner. wow.. c
that was me… : )
All those bales of hay remind me of living in the country when I was small. I always loved hay baling times with the trailers piled high. A lot of hard work goes into all this…you must be tired. Have a nice day.
I could do with a couple of strong teenagers!.. c
Thjere is a sign missing from Photo five: Shiela’s Beauty Parlour.
Sheila does not like to share!.. except with Wandering Poppy of course.. c
I miss growing our own hay! The horrible drought here has caused the cut off of irrigation for 3 years now, I have 25 acres turning into a weed patch as I write this. With 5 horses, 2 cows and a flock of sheep, it’s a burden to have to buy it from other areas. I sort of envy your tiredness!
Oh no, that must be so hard to live where there is no natural water. Maybe you should drive a truck over here and we can load you up. Cows drink a lot of water, i cannot imagine how hard that is.. Where does your water come from?.. c
That is a lot of work! Been there done that! No more livestock here so no baling hay and stacking! Those bales are heavy!!! Especially when you hoist a few!!! 😉
So glad the rain held off for you! RELIEF!!! Held off for us too. Kevin got in after 10 pm last night. Yes…I get up and warm up a nice supper for him. Summer did well in obedience class last night! We step up to Novice obedience beginning July! 😀 She is doing so well!!!
My baby is growing up!
Take care and hoping no more rain for a while. We are supposed to get some Wednesday…hope not…and then you won’t have anything coming your way either! Looks like most of it is going north or south. Yay for us! Now in July? We will need this! 😉
We sleep really good don’t we? 🙂
Good morning Merre, now that the hay is in I would welcome some rain to help grow the next crop! Have a nice day.. c
I think I’d be staggeringly tired after any of your days on the farm, but this one looked especially grueling. Makes my day look positively cushy. So glad you got the hay dealt with!
bet your day is not that cushy though! c
You truly made me homesick today for the farm. Those scenes of baling hay could have been straight out of my childhood. And, yes, stacking hay is hard work.
That sounds like a good yield and should go down well in the winter which must seem so far away at the mo… but how you do what you do makes me tired and all I do is read your blog…