Is that a contradiction in terms? Can we prepare with action? I think we can. Or do we prepare FOR action. hmm. Preparations. Well, yesterday I was preparing for the big storm that may roll in this morning. When I was not stacking hay. And did I mention that I am actually allergic to hay. Even wearing jeans and long sleeves and gloves I get welts on my skin when handling hay, itchy raised rashes. Sigh. But the hay must be stored. 
Who would be a farmer when you are allergic to GRASS! And yes they did the scratch test years ago, when I was seeing doctors ,and I am allergic to grass and horses. Hopeless.
Above is Aunty Del when I open her gate. This girl does not muck around.
The forecast was for a bad bad storm in the early hours (damaging winds, heavy rainfall) so I spent some time making sure all the chickens had shelter within their enclosures (I drug the arks in beside the barn for extra cover.) And the cows were able to get into the barn, then I opened the rat house paddock for the sheep (the sheep love the root cellar).
Poppy and Sheila are ready for anything. At least Poppy is. Her plan is to hide behind Sheila. The Behind being the operative word.
We will see.
Cats love new hay.
I hope you all have a lovely day.. even if a little stormy.
Your friend on the farm
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
36 responses to “Prepare Actions”
Scrapper is definitely going to chastise that bit of wayward hay, lol. Batten down the hatches Farmy and be safe through this big storm. Laura
No storms for us. The weather is being extremely obliging. Apart from being a bit cooler (I wore jeans for the first time this year!), we’re getting a nice rain shower every day, followed by warm winter sunshine. My vegies are waking up, having a stretch and seeing where they can spread out to today. The snow peas, strawberries and sweet potato are all on the brink of making a break for freedom. Soon, I must set out more seed and get some potatoes in. You do macro farming, I do micro; the only livestock I keep are the worms in my worm farm!
speaking of which I just ordered another couple of thousand worms, mine seem to have decreased in numbers over the winter.. c
We had a major storm last night,over Lough Neagh (Northern Ireland, the largest lake in the UK.) The funnel clouds came free – most unusual for this part of the world and brought Natures band practice and fireworks. A friend about 20 miles away said the rain was so bad in her area, someone might drown! Stay safe, warm and dry.
Grannymar, my maternal grandparents were born, raised and married in Dromore. Looks like it might be close to Lough Neagh. Small world, huh.
Equus, Lough Neagh has an area of 151 square miles and five of the six counties of Northern Ireland have shores on the Lough. I suppose, when compared to the US, everywhere in Northern is close at hand.
The weather could use some human assistance; wouldn’t it be nice to have a switch for ON, LIGHT, SPRINKLE?
my computer is throwing a wobbley…so I only got to read the first paragraph of your post. A farmer being allergic to hay….well I’ll be chuckled pink….that must make life very difficult. cannot comment on the rest of your post as I was not able to open it…very soon this computer will be in the garbage…. until then have a nice day Miss C
That used to happen to me in my hay-helper days. Now I just sneeze at most things. Storm: you stay away from my friend. We can all do without this stuff the weather keeps throwing at us. It’s supposed to be SUMMER for Pete’s sake.
Battening down the hatches, as my mother used to say…hope all comes through in fine shape. We’ve got gorgeous weather here, unusual for June. The joke in Portland is that summer starts on Juy 5, but not this year–its been amazing.
We came through with almost an inch of lovely warm rain and no high winds at all. Sometimes i think whoever writes the weather predictions get a little over dramatic, all we got was wet. Wet is good for the fields so we are pleased. now back to work for me! c
Oh! GOOD! I was going to ask how the storm went…now I know. The weather channel said you were really in for it…I’m glad they were wrong!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife@wordpress.com
lucky I don’t watch the weather channel then! I might have been even more worried.. c
True. I headed over to it after I read your post. Rain is lovely ….always.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife@wordpress.com
I think that Big Dog’s saying, “Seen it all and done it all before m’am” !
Christine
I thought you might like that shot christine.. c
Good to hear you didn’t have any stormy weather. But at least you were prepared, right?
We were due a huge rain storm but it’s blowing straight over the top of us, and heading in Viv’s direction. Good morning to you, c, and to the farmy.
I love the picture of your old dog. 🙂
Very stormy June here in France. I almost put the chauffage on. But this is great. Wet means our countdown to drought is closing in. Last year, other farmers were feeding hay. This year, we have so much grass, we’ll do another hay cut.
I saw your fields on your blog this morning, they look sumptuous. I also have closed another field for hay, I am going to need more feed for the winter when the calves get up to speed.. c
We’ve had lovely rain on and off for weeks, which has been wonderful. Getting the summer garden in now, and our plants are loving the alternate periods of rain and sunshine! 🙂
…at least you don;t keep horses! I hope the storm blows over 😉
Oh my, allergic to hay. I’m sorry to hear that. I have a worm hotel for my food scraps and I love it. It’s a three part staging unit with legs. The worms multiply like crazy and the worm juice I am collecting is the best fertilizer I ever had. Let me know if you are interested I will send you the information.
Thank you .. i have a huge worm farm, in an old cast iron bath so i can drain the fertiliser and one of the towers for the first stages.. In fact we have had worms here for six years now, though I am replenishing their numbers this year with an additional package they have a lot to get through at the moment with all the chick bedding!..
That’s great, I use mine for all my kitchen scraps .