Hay

There is a small section of pasture right across from the shop that I refused to let Chris mow so I could cut it for hay for the chicken coop. Wednesday, I raked up the hay I had cut, and pitched it all into the back of the truck. As sweat trickled into my eyes, I though of Laura Ingalls helping her Pa by tramping the hay down in the wagon. I thought for a minute that maybe I should get the kids involved, but it wasn't that much hay, so I didn't. In retrospect, though, they would have had a lot of fun.

A part of me really wants to learn how to make an old-school haystack. Since we don't have a baler (yet) it would be nice to know how so that I wouldn't have to keep taking up room in the stable. [Also, I have this desire to slide down a haystack at least once in my lifetime, thanks again to the Little House series] From what I understand, you just put the hay down in a circle, then keep piling it up in layers. The trick is to top it so that it will shed water... But as far as I know, there are no videos on YouTube to help me learn how. Maybe I need to take a trip to Amish country?