The 2016 Great American Barn Yard Camp Out

Well, we are two nights down in the transition to the barn.  He woke me up several times the first night "Momma?"  "Hey baby. You okay?"  "I guess so."  "Okay, go back to sleep." "Okay."  and a few times last night.  I'm hoping tonight he'll sleep on through.

I sleep out there with them for a few nights just to make sure they aren't any more stressed than they have to be.  During the day I try to take/keep them out there as much as I can and we graze and nap in the barn so they get used to their new home.  

Usually I really enjoy hanging out in the barn, but this has been the hottest "camp out" ever.  Even with an extra fan blowing right on us yesterday afternoon we were all pretty close to miserable. Luckily the nights have cooled off enough to sleep, but the fans are running 24/7 these days.

Cashed out by my cot.

Waking up for a few seconds and then back out.

Poor Baba in the other corner with her gate pillow. 

This is how we all feel.  Groggy.

But then, when you wake up and you are hungry, you can just walk out the door to eat even if your mom is too hot to go out with you.

Hershey is currently winning the fan war this year.  The big fan is sandwiched between the two gates.

The view from my cot.

A closer look at handsome Keebs.  At least there was a good breeze yesterday.  It helped a little.

You have to have a sheep pillow case for sheep camp!

Oops, he must have heard the camera clicking.

"Is it baba time yet?"

The Batty Sheep Lady

I've been noticing a row of black "rice" at the barn entrance.  Seemed an odd place for mice so I googled bat poop and sure enough, our bats are back :-D.

They are definitely living behind the barn quilt.  I saw three leave the other night at 9:25.  They whoosh, whoosh, whooshed out from the bottom at Top Speed.  Just fascinating!  I'd love to catch a video of that, but it's too dark.  Hopefully there are more than three, but three is better than none if not.  

Bullwinkle and I camped out in the barn last night.  Blossom aka BaBa has pretty willingly volunteered to be the auntie again this year.  We all had some vanilla wafers (probably her main motivation ;-) before bed and it all went pretty well.  The end is near :'-(.

Momma's Little Ray Of Sunshine

I was doing some (apparently boring) work in the barn the other night.  It took longer than I'd thought it would and when I got done I looked around for Bullwinkle and couldn't find him.  With some lambs (cough Baaxter) this would be very bad, but I trust Bullwinkle quite a bit...or I wouldn't have let him out of my sight in the first place.

Kate and I looked out in the yard but didn't see him.  Hmmm, that's odd.  He usually grazes in front of the Wool House.  I checked around the back side, no "baby".  As I walked back to the barn, I saw him. He'd taken himself out to the side field and was grazing away like a good boy.  I guess he's ready to move to the barn :-/.

"Move to the barn?"

This is some of my favorite light.  Shining into one of my favorite paddocks.  On one of my favorite sheep.  I got a bit carried away.  But that's okay.  It's all fleeting, so enjoy.  

The sunbeam shots are all SOC (straight out of camera, meaning no editing or special Instagram filters...).  This last picture of Bullwinkle and Kate was taken at the same time, but from a different angle - facing the neighbors not the road.  Shots from this angle could be pretty too, but I think the golden sunbeams make the other pictures magical.  

Here's a new puzzle.  This was a really fun one to work :-).

 

Making Hay While The Sun Shines

We've had such a wet spring that I was afraid we were going to be in the same situation as last year, scrambling to the very end to find local hay.  Not only was last year stressful because of the shortage, but remember the last 100 bales that I thought looked like nice hay but ended up making the sheep sick because of the clover (at least that's what we're guessing)?  I couldn't risk that again.

Fast forward to this spring.  Stella's grandson Jason has taken over the family farm and offered to sell me square baled hay from one of their fields.  I could pick any field I wanted...but as spring turned to summer, we all decided there was too much clover there to feel safe.  The neighbor who usually takes the roll bales off our back field said we could trade our clover free field for one of Jason's.  That'd work!

We've never been able to find anyone who was willing to come square bale our small five acre field. Rolls are so much faster and easier to handle.  Square bales require more a lot more equipment, labor and time...and hassle.  While it's all the same hay, rolls are too hard for me to feed, so I budget $1600 per year for 400 square bales.  

While that probably works out to be a bit high for plain grass hay cut from our own farm, at least I know exactly what grass is in it, that it hasn't been sprayed with any chemicals, that it was put up correctly and I've supported a very local farmer.  But between gathering equipment, people, worrying about the weather, lots of sweat and tired bodies, I'll have to guess that's some of the hardest money he's earned!

They (because nothing is done by yourself in this "neighborhood association" ;-) decided to cut and bale our field in two parts so in case the weather ruined the first half they'd still have the second.  The first part was baled on Saturday.

103 bales

Cutting the second part.

First load headed to the barn.  Boy, it's a good feeling to see a big wagon load of hay coming in the driveway!

Saint Tim tossing a bale to the loft.

Monday

"Wow, that's a lot of hay!"

As soon as the second part was cut, they changed Sunday's forecast from 10% chance of rain to 60%. While I always worry when I see hay on the ground and storms rolling through, this time it was personal.  As the clouds bulldozed their way across the county late in the afternoon I thought we were toast.  They held together though and oh so slowly eased down the road.  WHEW!!! Yesterday was perfect hay weather.  Thank you!!!

Look sharp!  Here comes the boss.

Part of the quality control team :-D.

"This weed shouldn't be in here, so I'll pull it out."

"Everything else looks good!"

Bullwinkle had a blast running around, jumping the rows and taste testing everything. 

Jason's brother Matthew helped.

Other friends and neighbors were in and out to help.

And the wagons filled - 327 bales total.  

We can probably make it with 350, but I like a 50 bale cushion in case we have a long, hard winter. The (new :-) neighbors on the other side of us (which used to be part of our farm years ago) have offered up their back field to make up the difference.  So, for the first time I'm going to be feeding home raised hay.  That's probably not a big deal to most farmers, but I'm really excited about it.  

"Putting up hay is sure thirsty work!"

Sunday Snippets

One more breakfast shot :-).

A couple lavender puzzles for you to enjoy working while sitting in the AC.  I'm sitting out in the yard under a shade tree with Bullwinkle so he can get his grazing in.  It. Is. Hot.  But the company is good.  And occasionally the breeze is nice.

Sadly, when it gets this hot it usually means a storm is fixing to blow through.  This would be bad because 60% of our hay is on the ground.  How about some NO RAIN dances until it's safely in the barn. This is the first year we are going to get to feed (hopefully!) our own home grown hay and I'm going to be really sad if gets ruined.  

The first 100 bales smell so good in the loft :-).  I sure wish Smell-O-Vision really worked.  Between the lavender and the fresh cut hay...aroma therapy for sure.