June and July part 2
pool disaster
The great pool disaster of 2023 has moved through the 4 phases of a minor disaster. Phase 1 - depression and insomnia. Phase 2 - making the best of things. Phase 3 - slow rebuilding, and Phase 4 - rejoicing.
hay - finally
This is the first time we've cut hay at The New Farm. We don't have haying equipment, or the time or expertise to make our own hay, so we rely on other farmers who do 'custom work' which just means that they are making hay on your property. I had to make a lot of phone calls and grill all neighbors and farm adjacent people in the area about finding someone to do this work for us. To make it more complicated, I really wanted to start to feed baleage which is partially dried hay wrapped (technically ensiled) in plastic. I started writing a bunch of information here about why, but dear readers, you got lucky and I took it all out to save for a special post on baleage. Now you really have something to look forward to!
Anyway, a super nice farming couple made the hay, juggling their young baby between them (not literally, dad had the baby while mom worked, and vice versa), and another farmer at the opposite phase of life - farmer retirement (where work is reduced to 40 hours per week), came to wrap the bales. We got incredible yields, 2-3x what I was expecting based on my calculations for a total of 91 bales. NINETY ONE! We need around 100 going into the winter, so we are in a super comfortable position going into the second hay harvest. I had planned to buy 50 bales from another farmer because I only thought we would be able to make 50 on this property. I'm glad I waited!
Here we are moving ewes to a new pasture. No dog helping on this move which accounts for the more leisurely pace, kind of a slow motion farm tour. We are walking up the lane which allows the sheep to move back and forth between the barnyard and the 4-acre field. Field names are not particularly creative around here. To the right is The Big Pasture, you can see the compost heap and some dry hay that we feed the boys. To the immediate left is a drainage ditch and beyond that is the perennial food garden. You can see the 4-acre field in the upper left corner of the frame.
When the gals realize that we are going into fresh feed, they pick up the pace like my family when they finally fix the soft serve machine at the Chinese buffet. I had to pick up my pace too which accounts for the embarrassing heavy breathing!
Superdog Ari has named himself the King of the Compost Heap, I'm not sure the photo is as regal as it is in his mind.
This is how the flock sleeps! At this time they were unfamiliar with this field so they were sticking even tighter together than usual.
Our first strawberries!
When we moved in we put everything we didn't want to organize into this room in the barn that we call the work room, so I had to move it all around to get our outdoor furniture. Not really cleaning per se, but still closer to the goal of actually working in the work room. This winter we’ll store the outdoor furniture in places closer to where we actually use it so it’s easier to set back up next spring. Naturally, because people don’t change, I do not have a before photo, but I did think of taking a ‘halfway’ photo if that’s helpful?
