The bulk of the cutting on Cae Mari Jones has been done now. The major task at the moment is dismantling the racks and bringing in the hay when ever there is an opportunity. One dry day is usually enough to ensure any wet from the rain dries off the outside. Harvest home! The very top has been discarded for use as mulch (foreground), the … Continue reading Hay Making 2014 – Bringing the harvest home
It has all been very busy the last couple of weeks, hence no posts for a while. Hay making continues on Mari Jones, all using racks now because of the unsettled weather. We carried the hand bale press into the field two weeks ago. It is good to bale up a bit of the hay as it makes it more saleable. We were also interested … Continue reading Haymaking 2014 – Making Bales
Life seems busier then ever and I haven’t found time lately to post updates on the hay making! Here is something I wrote last week and have just got around to finishing. Thursday 24th July. We bought in more of the hay mown during the week, plus two more racks. All of this hay was put onto the outside hay stack that we started building … Continue reading Hay Making 2014 – Outdoor Hay Stacks
The hay making continues to make progress across Cae Mari Jones, with Phil mowing more every morning. Last night we bought in the first of this area of hay. We have run out of space to stack more hay inside without compromising the other functions of the barn. So we are going to experiment with building an outdoor hay stack. Here is the base, four … Continue reading Hay Making 2014 – the thick and the thin of it
Due to a technical hitch, I haven’t been able to post for a number of days, so here is a rather long update on how the hay making has been progressing. Tuesday 15th July We built four racks in the evening, using about a third of the hay that was cut during the social mow on Sunday. Here I have raked up a ring of … Continue reading Hand Haymaking 2014 – Rowing, Racking and Stacking
After the Social Mow on Sunday, Phil and I began work on the cut grass with the intention of making hay from it, given the unsettled forecast. We began about 3pm on Sunday afternoon. It had been overcast most of the morning, but by this time the sun was shining brightly. We flipped over all the mowed windrows with rakes. This exposes the cut ends … Continue reading Hand Haymaking 2014 – whatever the weather
We had our annual Social Mow on Sunday. A couple of people had camped over the night before and we began mowing soon after 8am. We didn’t have blazing sunshine, but the cooler, damper conditions did make the mowing easier. Phil and I mowing together We were joined by others throughout the morning and had an enjoyable time mowing and chatting. As well as plenty … Continue reading Social Mow 2014