For the last few years we have built an outdoor haystack. This serves as an emergency backup for the indoor stacks should we need additional animal feed in a really severe winter. Its primary purpose is to “store” mulch material for use in the garden in the spring, as there is little fresh to harvest at this time of the year. We have grown potatoes … Continue reading Spring time in the Garden – Mulched Potatoes
One of my personnel markers of Spring is the moment when the sheep refuse even the sweetest hay in favor of the new grass growth, sparse as that may be. Thoughts then start to turn towards making the next crop. One of the first annual tasks in the hay meadow is flattening mole hills. While moles may be indicators of a healthy worm population, mole … Continue reading Moles in the Meadows
While researching Welsh scything terms I came across the Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru, a wonderful Welsh dictionary run by the University of Wales. Whilst checking on more mundane words such as “haystack” and “scythe” I came across a rich seam of specific historical terms. Under the word gwair (hay) there were terms not so dissimilar to ones we might use in English eg “gwair doldir – … Continue reading How many words for hay?
We had our first Scythe Course of the season on Saturday. It was a really excellent day. The course was full with participants both local and from further afield. As well as the scythe teaching there was plenty of interesting conversation over lunch and tea breaks, covering scything and grass of course and a wide range of other topics besides. Here’s Phil and I, enjoying … Continue reading May Hay
Last summer, after filling the barn with hay we built an outdoor hay stack. (See here). Here it is when freshly built. We meant to put a tarp or something over it to protect the top and help it shed water, but we somehow never got around to it. Over the following months, the uncovered stack shrank alarmingly and I assumed it would be half … Continue reading Outdoor Haystack Part 2 – taking it down
The last of Cae Mari Jones has been cut. Some of the patches that had a lot of Knapweed in have been used to mulch various areas of perennial plants. We have also made a couple more racks, managing to wilt the hay sufficiently between the showers. The patch of grass to the right has now been cut and this rack is in the barn … Continue reading Hay Making 2014 – nearing the end and welcoming new residents
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