The Hay is in the Barn(s)!!

The wet, warm spring made the grass grow tall and fast, in the fields, lawn, everywhere. Suddenly, in June, the weather turned roasting hot and the rain quit. We were faced with head high grass around the buildings and in the fields. So we had to cut, rake, and bale hay pronto, then get it all into the various barns/sheds/whatever before the rains returned, as promised... tonight, 6/25. We have been busting our butts until today... Johnny mostly since he's the tractor equipment guy. I'm merely the support and animal person... until it's time to load the hay onto wagons and unload it into the barns. Then it's all hands on deck, including a hired neighbor teenager... who, I think, is much bigger and stronger than either of us ever thought about being. He's also young. We are old.

We've been so busy I took very few photos. Our equipment is old and last century, like us. Our baler refused to bale so our neighbor, who is also old and has ancient equipment that Johnny helps keep running, baled for us... with Johnny's help. It takes a village... and a tractor with a chain around the bucket holding the equipment up so Johnny can work on it.

  Father's Day brought the Seattle area family men down, but somehow they managed to miss hay pickup time.

  

Son Kevin did, however help grease and marvel at the antique equipment. Although it is pretty much the same equipment we used when he was a kid helping... forty plus years ago. 

Here he stands with his dad in a field of cut but unraked (or baled) hay.  

 

Look closely at this assemblage of tractors/etc. and you will see Johnny and Kevin working on the baler... closer view in top photo

Not sure of when I took what photos, but here is one of Johnny raking one of the fields, out of order in time as the "kids" were not here then.

 

Back to Kevin marveling at the unique fixes Johnny has come up with. This mower has one of its discs that broke replaced by a cast iron frying pan. I am not kidding. And it works.

So far, I have taken no photos of baled hay, all now safely lodged in goat barn, former-llama/sheep-area-turned horse area behind the shop, with overflows in former-horse-barn-when-we-had-more horses, down the buck aisle of the goat barn, and on the flatbed in a roped off covered area behind the shop. We finished getting it all in last night (June 24) since rain was predicted for the next 6 days. Today has been a catch-up on sleep day for Johnny and a catch-up on the computer day for me. Maybe I'll still get some photos of the baled hay. I should have plenty of time... It will take a very long time to use up all this hay... thank goodness... and thanks to the weather gods who allowed us to get all this hay in without rain.