Filled hay wagon

My husband has made the machinery ready for haying. The tractors are being repaired. The baler is being checked out and greased up. After sitting in the machine shed all winter, it needs a going-over. He fixed the flat tire on a hay wagon.  Getting ready takes work.

The alfalfa is nice and thick.  It did not suffer winter kill in spite of the harsh winter.  The snow-cover of winter protected it.

The hay was cut five days ago.  It has been lying in the field to dry.  Three days ago my husband crimped the hay to accelerate the drying process.  Yesterday he raked it and we tried to bale it.  Alas, the clouds hung in the sky and the sun did not fully make the hay dry enough to bale.  Even today, the dew is heavy and there is no breeze.  The sun is shining, however, so later in the day we hope that we can actually bale the whole field.

We bale small bales.  Many farmers have upgraded to the large round bales or large square bales.  We are using the old machinery we bought from my husband’s dad. It is old and needs repair, but since our farming operation is set up for this type of baling, we are sticking with it.  Our hay wagons hold about 80 bales.  We have to master loading bales neatly.

Hurray! We got the hay baled and stored just in time.  Just after finishing the job the rain began to fall.  We seem to have to race with the weather.  How nice that we have it under shelter and the hay will stay dry.

Photo credit: Wenda Grabau

On the heels of last year’s extremely wet spring, farmers are looking forward to a better planting season. This past winter gave us oodles of snow. Strangely, the run-off during the melting has not been overwhelmingly abundant. Therefore, getting into the fields is more possible.

The frost line went below normal levels in the cold temperatures of the winter, breaking water lines on the farm and adding jobs to do before planting. The unforeseen and foreseen activities of spring fill the farmer’s schedule. Unexpected cold still reigns this spring.

The yard is painted with healthy green. Some tulips on the south slope by the farm house are in bloom.  Yet others shaded by the looming ash tree offer only leaves.  Evidently they are responding to their cool environment.

Gray skies hover overhead.  The weather forecast predicts rain for tomorrow and several days after that.  May 30 is the deadline for planting corn for us. Each day that the soil cannot be worked adds more tension on the back of the farmer.

We are waiting for good weather.  Waiting is sometimes hard. Between the droplets of rain, some jobs have been done: mechanical work; plowing; roofing on the barn; raising new chicks in the brooder house; weeding the strawberry patch, mowing lawn. Even though we must wait for good planting weather, we are not sitting still. Sometimes we just have to be busy…waiting.

If you find yourself in a season for waiting, the scriptures have a verse on waiting.  Psalm 27:14 says, “Wait on the Lord and be of good courage and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.” As you await His direction or answers, just like in farming, do not only be still, but do things that you know are His Will.  As the verse says He will strengthen you and give you courage.  And keep waiting.

photo credit: Wenda Grabau
photo credit: Vince Alongi via photopin cc

Still there is plenty of work to be done on the farm. 

• pruning shrubs
• raking last year’s growth from hostas
• cleaning ditches of litter

Whoops, change of plans!  The tractor hydraulic system quit.  I got recruited to take the pump to a hydraulic shop to see if it can be fixed.  It is 75 miles from the farm.  Fortunately for me, my son and his family live there. I can see them for awhile.

My husband has to get the tractors ready to work for the planting season.  He has to finish spreading manure and grinding feed for the cattle.  Lesser jobs get done while waiting for the big ones, i. e. tractors, to resolve.

To top it off, he found a new job.  As the frost left the ground, an underground water pipe broke and began leaking water.  Urgent, incidental events like this crop up and the planned tasks have to be set aside.  Frustration can set in.

Since my plans changed with my little trip to the hydraulic store, my daughter got to clean the ditch for me instead.  I stayed 2 days with my son’s family.  What an unexpected blessing to be with my grandchildren again.  I also enjoyed my daughter-in-law’s delicious home-cooking.  (I find particular delight in eating someone else’s cooking once in a while.)

My visit came to an end.  With the recent April showers, my spring cleaning attention is directed at the house.

The best made plans must remain flexible.
photo credit: The hills are alive* via photopin cc

Signs of spring are evident on the farm.  Aside from all of the milking and chores, several jobs are in progress. Since we have had a hard, long winter and the cold temperatures linger, there is more wood to move into the wood room.  Still, the blackbirds and robins are here, the position of the sun warms the lawn and green is breaking through the sod.

Spring cleaning on the farm becomes a priority.

• Downed and bothersome branches of trees and bushes are cut and hauled away.
• Cleaning of calf and chicken sheds take time.
• Manure removal and spreading must be done.
• Raking of flowerbeds to beautify the landscape of the grounds is moved to the top of my “Do List”.
• Oat seeds, cleaned by the fanning mill, are made ready for planting.
• Seed corn, alfalfa and garden seeds have been ordered.
• Machinery is maintained and made ready for the planting season.
• Bull calves have been sold.

Why all this “To Do” for spring?  Why does the farmer do this every spring?

Since the time of Noah, God made mankind a promise. It is recorded in the ancient writings, in Genesis 8:22.

“While the earth remains,
Seed time and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer
And day and night
Shall not cease.”

God promised us that we can expect seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night.  We can plan on it and we do.

photo credits:Wenda Grabau

In an old cupboard in the basement, I found this little treasure.  It is a Dekalb Agric. Ass’n egg scale. What fun to find out the size and weight of our eggs.

This little gizmo is left over from when my husband’s parents sold eggs many years before I came on the scene.  When my husband was growing up here on the farm, his parents sold eggs…lots of eggs.  They raised 300 chickens. The “egg man” would drive up in his truck and take a week’s-worth of eggs to warehouse. The scale may have been a help in the selling process.

In those days, brown eggs sold for less than the white eggs.  They made it to bakeries, but not to store shelves.  Our farm eggs were brown then as they are now.

When the poulets start laying eggs in the summer, the eggs are small.  As time goes on, they get to be like the egg pictured on our scale. They get to be extra large and even bigger.

I used to see this little scale tucked in a utility shelf in the basement.  I have really enjoyed examining it and reminiscing about how it was used in the past. Now I will have to display it more openly.  It is a real memory, here on Heritage Farm.

photo credit:Wenda Grabau