Digging My Potatoes

Thanks to Aidan Foxley for these photos.

In the Still of the Night

We finished the hay last night with the final load going into the barn just after the sun had set. There's always a lot of satisfaction (and relief) knowing that the job is finished for another season.  Despite the adverse weather and some minor equipment break-downs (along various and sundry other breakdowns), we now have a loft full of hay that will easily last through the winter. But we're not going to think about winter just now....

Cruel Summer

Here it is - a full week into August - and we're only now getting serious about loading the hay into the barn. During the entire month of July we put only four wagon-loads into the loft...which is pretty pathetic when you consider that we can do five loads in a single good day. Obviously, we haven't shared in the record hot summer the rest of the country has been having, with only one day above 80 degrees so far. But we did get a lot of work done in the last week, and the weatherman claims that we should have abundant sunshine for at least another week as well.

Here's a shot of Ryan on top of the wagon after setting the double harpoons into the stack. After he jumps down, a team of two Fjords will pull the hay up into the loft, and I'll release the harpoons with a trip-rope. The double harpoons are an idea Ryan came up with that allows us to lift more hay in each load - saving both time and work. Climbing up on the stack and driving the harpoons into the hay is a bit of a chore, and it's nice to be able to do it half as often.