Old Joke

Remember that old saying about if you are looking for wisdom on a particular subject you should ask a farmer because he is always out-standing in his field? That is what I am reminded of when this time of year is calling us and especially Mike to walk through the hayfields ans assess the timing to begin hay harvest. Now that we are within a month of cutting the some of the fields, the walks have become a daily ritual.

Each field ripens differently since we have no flat area anywhere on the farm. The river meanders through with odd eddies and horseshoe bends, and each hayfield is shaded in parts from riparian trees, the tall trees in the old railroad grade and the hillside. The sun doesn’t hit some of the slopes or shady spots this time of year.

Mike’s daily walks are usually with the company of a dog or two and they make their way around the thin spots and the lush ones, areas with more white clover and those with fine meadow grass. He reaffirms his mental maps as to how far the bog area of the big field encroaches out into the field from the old tile. The new sunken areas from ancient old growth roots that have begun to decay now that the live tree tops and subsequent stumps have been gone more than a hundred years. He evaluates how much damage the elk herds have been doing and how much vegetation they are leaving for us to harvest.

Our time for reflection is drawing to a close as we inch our way toward hay season. We are already starting to transition out of processing firewood which has remained stronger than usual in sales this spring. All the splitting area of the barn will be cleaned out so the hay equipment can be pulled out of hibernation. The empty cribs used to hold split wood will be stacked up out of the way of hay production as with the Super Splitter and the chainsaws. The few cribs  full of wood that we have ready to wrap into bundles are tucked into a corner of the bull barn where I’ll be able to  continue to make a small supply for weekly deliveries.

As for Mike, he is probably outstanding in his field as he ponders the next few weeks here on the farm.

We appreciate every reader we have and love it when you spread the word about SchmidlinAngusFarms, fill out the FOLLOW information so you get each story right to your email each day and/or leave comments about the stories. I would also like to take a moment to thank those who click on the icon to do shopping with the affiliate, (clicking on the affiliate icon does not make you purchase, only gets you the their site) and sometimes I get a small commission from your purchases if you do shop, without a cost to you! As always, Prime and special codes work with the icon and you do not have to purchase any item that I promote. Please consider using my link when you do your cyber shopping. Thank you for your support