Hay Season Begins

Already, it's hay season.

The alfalfa is bursting forth with dark green leaves and sweet indigo blossoms. Purple pompoms mingling with the small, yellow dots of the sweet clover, also blooming.  Yellow sweet clover looks like staccato fireworks against a cloudy purple sky of alfalfa blooms. Various grasses- crested wheatgrass, Russian rye, foxtail, and others- fill out the mix.  The fields and ditches are lush with color. If the cows in their pastures had an understanding of time, they would realize this is the food they will eat come winter and they would be salivating. This mix of plants is in its prime right now.

This photo was taken about a week ago.  The blossoms are definitely more colorful now.

Jeff hurried out to the swather at the first opportunity after our busy weekend.  It took him only about two days to cut the hay, now laying in wind rows to dry just a bit before being baled. The hay looks good, but it is not nearly as full a field as it was last year.  Last year was a record hay year due to a long, very wet spring and early summer.  Jeff cut around two hundred bales last year.  This year, he thinks there will be less than half that amount, owing to the dry early spring weather. We have been trying to scout some CRP nearby that could be cut to augment the total bale count. 

Because the hay Jeff has cut sof ar is relatively thin, it is not likely to take long to bale (knock on wood that the baler has no issues!).  Jeff will be up early tomorrow morning in the baler.  There is some magic to the timing of processing the hay through the baler, creating large round bales. It must not be too wet, nor too dry. Often a little dew can be helpful in forming the bales.  Too dry, and the baler can't get the hay too stick together and start a bale.

Our garden has been maturing nicely too.  The tomatoes are blooming and some have formed small green fruit. We are beginning to harvest sugar snap peas right now, and still going on with the lettuce. I have been trying to water it nearly daily- trying to combat the hot, dry days and the relentless wind. Still, the garden is surpassing all expectations. Summer in general is going pretty good.