Gonna make some hay

It's so thick I almost fell down while walking through it the other day. Pasture No. 3 was seeded into a mixture of grass hay and some clover a couple of years ago when the Stewarts still owned this place. When we arrived last July 1, the grass was pretty deep but nothing like what we've seen this year. We figure the goats had had a chance to graze it, and, besides, it was in the seeding's year.

Last fall I harrowed the field to flatten out the piles of alfalfa the Stewarts scattered around the place for whatever reason. Later, Bill hooked up the brush hog on the old Ford, and I spent several fall days trimming the tall, dead grass from each pasture. That manicure job must have done the trick for Pasture No. 3 because this year's crop is so thick it's like a jungle.

Now, with just one horse, we really have no need for it to be used as a pasture, so I called Doug Stockdale last night. I figured his haying equipment was small enough to go through our gates and that he might be interested in harvesting the field and the Ponderosa pasture next to it for stumpage. He came right over, looked at the grass and said he sure would be interested.

So, we're actually going to harvest a crop here at the Lovestead. It will be interesting to see what it yields, and we certainly hope it's worth Doug's time to bring his equipment over in the next few days. There's a certain amount of excitement in knowing that we have something growing here that's going to do someone some good. I think that we'll do the haying deal on shares. I told Doug whatever worked for him was fine with me.

I've been staying away from haying and hayfields as much as possible the past few years---have been content to write a check, open the gates and visit while Harvey and his crew stack up the winter's supply. This year, however, there may be something a bit more satisfying in bucking those bales (that is, if Doug doesn't stack them for us). I may not mind the sweat, knowing it's hay from our own place.

Besides, there's nothing in summer that beats the fragrance of newly-mown hay and to know it's Lovestead Naturals hay will make the aroma all the more pleasing.