Being in the barn...

It's really just four old plywood walls, and a dirt floor. In our dreams we had envisioned a majestic old bank barn - but our reality is a pole barn in various stages of disrepair.  Still, I often find myself hanging out within it's four walls.

Take tonight for instance. The sheep were fed, and their heads were happily in the grain toughs scarfing down every last morsel. The donkeys had their heads stuffed into the hay racks, trying to mine for the alfalfa hidden in the hay, and the ram was pacing his pen - itching to get out and join the girls.

I stood in the sheep enclosure, with Smokey the barn cat doing figure eights around my ankles. I still had water troughs to fill, but for a moment I was content to stand amongst them, listening to the happy sounds of eating.  It was warmer than usual in the barn, surprising as it was such a bitterly cold autumn night.

The barn lights are not that bright, and seem to always cast a yellowish glow no matter how many bulbs manage to remain on. It makes for a cozy place to stand and observe.

A small head butted my thigh, and I looked down to see one of the ewe lambs seeking attention.  I softly scratched her head, and continued surveying the barn.

We still had work to do, floors to level and water systems to install - but the addition of the sheep pen had definitely made this old pole barn feel like more of a true barn. The sweet smell of hay, and the musty smell of wet wool gave it a distinct smell, one that I seem to find comforting these days.

Filling water troughs could wait, for a moment I was enjoying simply being in the barn.

Haying for the first time

It’s hard to believe that only just a year ago, I didn’t realize there was a difference between hay and straw. To listen to us speak now about the types of grasses in our pasture, one would wonder if we had a degree in field grasses!

As we got closer to hay season, we began to wonder if we should invest the money into buying used haying equipment, or if it would be simpler to have someone else hay the fields for us.

We had no idea how hard it would be to find someone to do so! Having made several attempts we learnt that:

1) Most farmers are too darn busy haying their own fields to do yours

2) If they do take it on, they don’t guarantee it will be done before the rain comes…after all they have to get their hay up first

After many hours of searching on Kijiji, we finally found a retired farmer who was selling a haybine. It needed work, but after a few hours of repair we were able to get it up and running.

It took 3 more weeks to find a baler we could afford, once again Kijiji led us to our new acquisition.

We were now the proud new owners of haying equipment…but could we actually hay the fields? Could we manage to learn how to use the equipment in time to get the hay in?

In the words of my 89 year old neighbor “Your field looks like it got a two dollar haircut”!

And of course, no sooner had we finished baling the first 9 rounds of hay – but the weather forecast changed and the hydraulics went haywire on the tractor. We stood in misery watching the storm that night, the downpour soaking our freshly baled hay. I am sure our anguish was visible, we were so pained to see all of our sweat soaked efforts go down the drain.

However, the hay is baled. It’s now stored inside of our pole barn. That’s what counts right?