All baled up

Our Amish neighbors came back yesterday afternoon and baled the hay. I know most people are probably not as intrigued about hay cutting as I am but I have never seen it done at all. Let alone the way the Amish do it. At first it was just the young man’s father out there with his machine baling the hay. I had Hunter bring him some water and he asked him what his name was. His name is Meadow, his son’s (the one that was cutting the hay) name is Adley, and the 3 horses pulling the baling machine’s names are Polly, Dolly, and Linda. Shortly after another group of the Amish boys came up pulling a trailer and started loading the hay on to it. I asked Hunter if he was going to go help them load it up but he wanted no part in it. After all he had an important role of filming and taking pictures for me. They got over 150 square bales of hay out of the field. We had asked for them to just leave us 3 bales but they left us 7 bales.

The way Amish do things just amazes me. They work so hard and take pride in the way they do things. I love that even when they are working on the hay field you can still hear the sounds of nature. You don’t hear the loud noises that gas/diesel powered farm equipment makes. I was surprised that the baler had a gas-powered engine and it was still pulled by the beautiful horses and it was still really cool to watch. It kind of looks like the machine is pooping out the bales of hay.

There is a small road that goes up a steep hill to the hay field and the chicken coop. They brought the hay down that steep hill. They made it look easy but it still looked scary to me. I hope the hay helps them make it through the winter and I am glad they were able to get it in between rain storms. Since I didn’t know the hay process timeline, I was worried that rains from the hurricane in the gulf could affect it. I need to do some research on how to get the weeds out of the hayfield so it will be a better-quality hay. I have so much to learn about owning a farm but I love learning new things and I look forward to it!

Update on my dad: His arm is still sore but each day it is getting a little better. If he hangs his arm down by his side it throbs. He doesn’t know how to just relax and let it heal so he is out working on things all the time. I don’t blame him I would be too. He doesn’t like to just sit around. He may be a bit hard headed too.