Around and Around

Here's Ryan out in the rain spreading manure with Fred and Clark. We'll cut hay in this pasture sometime during July so that we have feed for the horses over the winter.  The horses will then make more manure for us to spread in the same pasture next spring.

Ryan says we're making hay. I claim it's a manure production operation. Fred and Clark call it working for their supper.

Time Changes Everything

After a long winter in the barn, we changed the horses over to their summer schedule last night.  That means days inside, and nights out in the pasture feasting on the new grass that is coming on strong.  Here are Sven and Ole who've just come into the barn and still expect their mangers to be filled with hay.  I would guess that we used about two-thirds of the hay we put up last summer, which is a pleasant surplus after running dangerously low last winter.  And now that all the animals are out of the barn for the summer, I have enough time for that second cup of coffee in the mornings...

Follow the Plow

I can probably count on one hand the number of sunny days we've had since the beginning of the year. OK...maybe I'm exaggerating a bit...but I'd only have to take off one shoe to get the right number. On those few and far-between dry days, Ryan and I have been trying to get things ready for a spring that has to arrive eventually, even if it's in July.

We started tomatoes and onions inside a couple of weeks ago, and last week I planted the Walla Walla onions and shallots in the garden.  The garlic is looking good, and is already in need of its' second weeding of the season (weeds don't care about the weather).  Next to the garden, Ryan has been preparing fields for the oats, wheat and mangels.  Fred and Clark pull the plow, and the three Fjords usually follow up with the lighter work.

The old land sales pitch was "Rain Follows the Plow."  We're hoping it's the other way around this spring.