But the day whipped past. 
The boys delivered the chickens to the abbatoir nice and early, then while the Day Mother cleaned my endlessly busy kitchen we ran farm work until the hay started in the afternoon. It was a long day. We worked right into the evening. And much later in the evening the boys and I sat down to a wonderful dinner of ravioli made for me by a very good friend in Chicago. I have a stack of bagged incredibly tasty ravioli in the freezer for hay making nights. It is hard being the farmer and the mother. But we all get together and make it happen even the poeple who are not staying here. . Hugo made the sauces and Josh supplied and prepped all the vegetables (he has taken over the gardens that have been terribly neglected since Tomoyo left) and what a relief it is to hand over that particular juggling ball .
In the afternoon while the Day Girls and the Men had their various siesta’s and study periods I was so hot that I decided to clean out the pigsty with water. Hugo has already shovelled any debris so I just hosed everything down and swept it for a while. The piglets and I literally played in water on the shady side of the barn for the afternoon. They ended up with a very clean concrete corridor to their garden and we all cooled off.
Later when everyone was sleeping again I went out to collect Camera House from his possy in the barn and took some night shots on the way in to the hot house. This last check is my favourite time.i am not in a hurry. I am alone but for my animals and everyone lies calmly. Watching or listening and gently grunting their night nights.
I hope you have a lovely day. we will – we have another 150 or so bales to pack into the barn. but that is OK we are fit.
Your friend on the farm
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
37 responses to “I got close”
Yep, I’m guessing Chicago John too! Where is he btw? Taking a very long siesta himself, I’d say! 🙂 This sounded like one of those sleep like a baby kind of days…I’m mean night after that kind of day! Hard but satisfying work…sleep like a baby that night!
Phew, I was so relieved to read that all that water came from your hose and not from the skies opening up; when I first saw the wet ground and piggies I caught my breath worrying about your hay. It is extremely hot here, in Toronto, as well. Apparently Wednesday was the hottest day of the summer and yesterday wasn’t much different. Thankfully today there is a little breeze which helps to relieve us of some of the humidity… but the weekend is predicted to be right up there again, with the humidex making it feel like 40 c. again (that’s somewhere around 105 f.), which is suffocatingly hot for us Canuks. I can’t even imagine doing a lot of physical work in these temps… so am glad you were able to get a bit of a break with the hose.
Your description of going out in the late evening to get camerhouse and do your last check on the animals was so good I felt myself right there, feeling the atmosphere and listening to the quiet night sounds as the animals settled down. You do have a wonderful way of weaving your words to bring us right there with you. Hope today is as productive. ~ Mame 🙂
Love the Piggies playing with an in the water. – Glad that everything is well. But you fortgot to tell us about the Girls… Your Nieces?
Visitors from the city, they came down for a few days with their mother – a little farm respite.. it was lovely thee girls adored the animals were brilliant with the calves and spent a lot of time in the swimming pool – win win for everyone.. c
What a nice mini holiday/vacation for them… They indeed looked lovely. Can imagine what fun that was.
Sending you all the strength I can muster right now. I’m not using it so it’s yours for the taking.Smart planning to have the ravioli on standby in the freezer. We all should keep stuff there for those extra looong days.
I am going to make sure i have something like this for haymaking days – it was great ! c
Send me your hay schedule. 😉
Oh, what a comment!
A big ‘hello’ and hope you will ‘steadily’ be back soon! Thanks for my morning laugh!!
Wow, hard work but it must feel so good to be bringing in the hay.
Yay for lots of hay! Love the night shots. Softly grunted ni nights. How sweet is that?!
I really love that, such a great community we have, saving special friend’s ravioli for haymaking dinner. Not just the food but the thought behind it, makes it so much nicer.
At the end of your day what a delight to see the farmy and the Community together over piles of hay, two young guys obviously working well together, three screaming little girls in the pool all embraced by John’s bounty of ravioli as only he can make them and those wonderful, peaceful evening shots: I suppose the lights on the horizon come from the wind farm . . .
love the end shots…and sentiments;)
Gosh, those piggies are getting big!