Amazing

One of the biggest concerns heading into early fall, is making sure you have enough hay for the upcoming winter.  An empty loft in October is nerve wracking.  We've used the same hay man for many years now.  I trusted him when he told me that with the wet summer, our orchard grass hay was going to be late.  He's never let me down.  Still, the first week of November...

I took this picture walking back to the house the other evening after Lewis and his boys (every year a new batch of ag kids from the high school) had delivered and stacked the first load of hay.  

Whew.

Whew!

I glanced over at the setting sun and saw thousands of spider web threads.  The entire yard was covered and the sun glinted off every one.  It took less than two minutes to run to the house and grab my camera, but the sun had already started dropping down behind the trees.  The sun sets (and moon rises) fast if you take a minute to watch.  Even late, with only a few webs still shimmering, I thought it was  amazing.

The yearly hay delivery is a rush.  The rush of relief for us knowing we'll have plenty to feed, the rush of excitement for for the sheep knowing they'll have plenty to eat.  Our older sheep KNOW the hay truck.  Heck, they probably know Lewis himself and enjoy as much as I do hearing about the Kentucky Wildcats, what's going on around town and what we'd all do if we won the lottery...

After the bales are unloaded I scoop off any loose hay remaining on the trailer and toss it into the sheep lot.  As we still have quite a bit of green grass left this fall, it's not yet time to start feeding hay, so it's a special treat for them and I get just as much enjoyment watching them push and shove trying to hoover up every scrap.  

We have a lot of sheep.  Well, to me it's a lot.  We feed a lot of hay.  I remember being a kid with just one horse to support and being able to buy only 20 bales at a time.  Hay is expensive.  Our sheep will need 200 bales this winter.  That's a big check and it still makes me a little weak in the knees to write it.  

This year every bite of hay our sheep will eat has been paid for by calendar sales.

By you.

Every.

Bale.  

And even some of the grain we feed the youngsters and oldsters.

I'm not writing this to brag.  I am writing this to humbly say thank you...with a whole barn full's worth of gratitude.  Not only for all the orders, but also for all the kind emails that came with them.  I had no idea how far our little farm reached and the joy (and sometimes sorrow) that we all are sharing daily here, the sun glinting off each and every one of us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Love, 

Saint Tim and thecrazysheeplady, Hank, Iris and Weaslie, Betsy, Eli, Comby and Claire Bear, T-Bone and Hickory, Ewen McTeagle, Buddy, Boudreaux, Elizabeth, Jester, Peabody, Popcorn Pee Pee Pants, Ford, Beanie Baby, Emily, Annabelly, Casper Belly, Baby Belly, Billy Belly, Clover Belly, Petunia, Woolliam, Rebecca Boone, Heidi, Henrietta, B. Willard, Daniel Not-Boone, Count Chocula, Hershey, Maisie, Blossom, Lila, Keebler, Graham Lamb, Allie, Mia, Renny and all our guardian angels.