This haymaking season has probably been the most difficult we've ever encountered! We've waited all summer for a high pressure to bring a settled spell of weather, and very patiently too! July went by with 4 inches of rain...August went by with just over 5 inches of rain...and we were beginning to think it wasn't going to happen!
It's taken us 13 days to get from the cutting of the grass to the baling/storing! The ground has been so wet and muddy, and the grass being so late on in the season was thick, matted, long and with an incredible amount of water in it. We've literally had to turn the hay by hand after Ted's turned it with the tractor - in a 3 acre field for nearly 2 weeks...that's a lot of turning! And on Monday we had to go around the whole perimeter of the field turning the hay by hand away from the outside into the middle and removing any wet grass or chunks of mud to make sure we stood the best chance of success.
With a huge amount of effort from Ted, Jenny, Roger and Faye we finally managed to get to today which was our baling day...HOORAY!
Thank you so much to Roger for rewing the hay up, Richard for baling and everyone who came to help us get the bales out of of the field and stacked in the barn! We had 369 bales with just a few unusable because they were damp/muddy from where the grass had been under some trees.
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| Tilly the puppy helping with the hay earlier in the week! |
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| Roger rewing up the hay this afternoon |
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When Faye said we needed to get rid of the loose hay before the new bales
arrived, this isn't what she had in mind! |
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| Anji and our 2 wonderful Austrian volunteers busy stacking bales in the barn |
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| Paddy in the hay on the trailer |
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| Pete, our Austrian volunteers and Stella ready to go out for the next load |
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Pete with Paddy...and Angela on the little tractor (who
amazingly arrived 24 hours early from Cornwall to help!
Margaret was kind enough to let Angela stay at her house for
a couple of nights so she could help). |
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| Paddy |
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| Faye and Paddy (most photographed dog of the day!) |
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| Cuba the dog having a rest! |
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| Faie, Rachel, Oliver and our other super helpers! |
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| Beate, Pat the dog and and Tilly |
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| Alex and Archie riding on the little trailer! |
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| Ted pleased with our achievements! |
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| The ponies were happy out in the field whilst all the activity took place |
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The whole bale stacking team (except Heather who was taking the photo,
and Oscar the dog and Cuba who opted out!)
Well done everyone, we really appreciate your help! |
And finally...thank you again to Ted and Jenny for their huge effort and generosity!
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