It’s pretty cool going over to Dale’s farm to buy hay and straw.

He’s just over the border into Michigan, and really only about 5 miles from us.

Out here, that’s practically like being neighbors!  Since I can get 8 bales in and on Blue, we don’t have to go too often, but I still like going anyway.  When I get a little time I’m going to go and get my straw bales for the garden and start arranging them and filling them with warm yummy farm compost.  I figure I have three months to get it all done, might as well make it one of my winter workout chores.  You know, the ones that I do every few days if it’s sunny and if it’s not TOOOO cold and if I really feel like it.

Yeah, a lot of “ifs”…  but I figure it’s better than waiting until thaw and rushing around and hurting myself.  If I can get 8 bales and arrange them, then go back another day and get 8 more…  I’ll get a little further along then if I wait.

We’re  going to have a serious garden this year.  I missed not having stuff to harvest last season and even though it was wonderful of Miss Julia to share veggies with us, I still really missed the whole gardening adventure of it all!  But we had a lot of other things on our plate and it’s okay.  I’ll probably overcompensate for it next spring!

Dale’s barn is HUGE… this is just one part of it.  It actually looks like two barn shoved together at a right angle.  I’m sure there is a name for this style, but I call it just AWESOMELY big!  He has these holes in various places that if you look down, you will see his dairy herd.  They all walk over and stare up at the hole when they hear voices, I’m sure they expect us to drop down a bale or two for them.  At the very least, they would get a good chuckle if one of us fell down the hole as well.  Hey, life as a dairy cow has to be pretty boring.  Anything would be amuzing, don’t you think?

Jessy came along with us and so did Steve, with his new pickup truck.  We loaded them both up and stocked the farm with nearly 20 bales of hay.  The sheep and Cody will have full bellies for at least a month or month and a half.  Right now they are eating a bale about every 3 days.  But as it gets colder, I expect they will do about a half a bale a day.  They also get pellet feed and sweet feed to dress it off in the afternoons, so they can keep warm at night, chewing away.

Jessy caught me in the act of working!  haha…. yep, I am so surprised how light these bales are after a few months of hefting them.  At first, I was pretty sure they weighed about 150 pounds.  Now?  Oh, easily 40 or 50 pounds only.   We’re all getting a lot stronger.  I am in awe when I see Maggie just heft a big 50 pound feed back to her shoulder and walk off like she’s holding a little sack of fluff.  She was always a strong girl, but now?  She’s WAY stronger.  I don’t think I would push her around, she’s a strong farming chick now.  Me and Jessy are working on that whole bag on the shoulder thing, but for some reason, our bags are always so much heavier.  Not sure why that is… haha….  darn feed store!