Close to done on the hay

This morning DH went out and started raking the hay, to turn it over, and also to get it into nice windrows for the baler. He was getting close to done, when the rake stopped turning...it seems this is the year for trouble. He couldn't figure out what happen, so stopped raking and we ate lunch...


...after lunch he went to work baling it. He got most of it baled before he had to stop for supper and to milk, just has to unhook the bale basket, and get down into a tighter spot, but he will do that tomorrow. After supper we went out and got several loads into the barn. Already we have way more hay than we ever had before in one cutting. It's going to end up over 200 bales I think, once he finishes up tomorrow, and the most we have ever gotten was 117 once, usually it's under 100...sometimes WELL under 100. I guess planting more grass and spreading the nitrogen all over the whole field helped a lot this spring...and the small area he had put milk on was even better...only it was small, so it's hard to say just how much better.

The really nice part about it is, there is less weeds and the grass is fine stemmed which the goats love...and which is lighter so the bales weren't so hard to pick up this time around! That sure made it easier on me!! LOL It wasn't as hot as usual either, so that was nice too. I got tired but not as quickly as I always have before, and could lift the bales higher, on the stack than before since they were lighter, which helped DH out, although I still got tired before we were finished and had to rest a little. Gotta love getting our ground going better, if it makes it easier on us...AND gets us more hay for the animals! :)


While I was out getting photos of the hay operation, I noticed that we even have a few tomatoes setting on, on our tomato plants!! Not lots, but hopefully they will get more later. I can't wait to start getting some, just hope we have enough plants, that we get plenty for at least some of the canning I want to do! We even have a couple grape tomato plants, because we both love them, and they have several starting to grow too...hmmmm nothing like fresh tomatoes warmed by the sun! They go really well with scrambled up hamburger and fried onions for a quick lunch! :)

About that cheese I made yesterday...it's even better today!! I cut a chunk off it and grated it up for a small lunch pizza I made today and that was the best pizza I've made so far!! The cheese melted beautifully and the crust was yummy although not quite as thick as I'd like it, but that's OK...it was a little crusty, because I used my pizza stone which makes for a crunchier crust...but it wasn't TO crunchy. I'm really liking that pizza stone I got for my birthday, although it does tend to get food on it and stain...but guess it doesn't have to look pristine, to still work. :) It cooks the pizzas pretty quickly too...and I also finally got a pizza cutter...and it works so much better than a knife, that I have to wonder why it took me so long to get one...course who knows, maybe it's the kind I got that makes it so nice, I don't know.

Anyway, it's been a much nicer day than I thought it would be, with the hay not being so heavy...and enjoying the cheese I made yesterday. I'm wondering how soon I can try it again, so I can see if it was a fluke, or is something I'll be able to do over and over again...not sure how much milk there is in the fridge cause I didn't pay attention to that the last time I was in there. Hubby may not get more milk for a little while...so I can try it a few more times. LOL

Anyway, I better run, it's getting late, and I'm getting tired. If I have time tomorrow, I'm going to have to go see if I can get a good photo of our view, cause I sure enjoyed looking at it when we were out on top of the hill picking up the stacks of hay that were up there...it's so beautiful out with all the green! :) I also still need a better photo of the new babies too. Time just doesn't let me do everything I want to do anymore.

Take Care.