Yesterday, I did a little work in the stable. The new pile of hay I had brought in the day before was already getting demolished by Elizabeth and her co-conspirators, so I decided to put a stop to it. I tacked one end of some three foot fencing to a wall post, and pulled it tight around the neatened hay pile. [I can't in good conscience call it a haystack... I know there is a way they used to stack hay to encourage water shed, but I don't know how they did it.] It will take extra effort from the chickens to strew about any more hay.

Before working on the hay pile, I cleaned out the second stall. Joe helped shovel up old hay and horse manure that then made its way to the compost pile. While I worked on the hay situation, the kids played in the newly 'cleaned' space. Living out here, it a good thing I'm not a germaphobe. I really hope there isn't some weird disease the kids can pick up from rolling around in dried, ground-up horse poo and decomposing hay. But really, I figure exposure to such a natural environment will only strengthen the immune system.