Hay is Life

This section of my barn with the cavernous hay mow was built in 1926 after the original barn burned down. My farm (doesn't that sound nice?) was founded in 1813 and I plan on having a party when it is 200..won't be long. Another gigantic hay mow was built in the 1960's by the Kupris kids to house even more hay. Without hay there are no cows, sheep, whatever. They would back the horsedrawn haywagon into the barn and pick it up with this hook and slide it over to where it would be stacked. When the stack got up to the ceiling, Sister Bernadette would climb up and change the light bulbs. I am still wondering how I am going to do that. I was blessed to find Mike Walker, a dairy farmer in North Brookfield who kept me in hay all this winter at $2 a bale. Some of the bales are so heavy I can hardly lift them...and no mold. The sheep, goats and llamas are crazy about his hay. There are a variety of grassy fields in the bales, so the critters don't get bored. The only way I am going to make it in farming is to grow my own hay. Remember the PBS frontier family? As hard as they worked it was determined that they would not have made it through the winter on the frontier for one reason - they didn't get in enough hay. If the critters don't eat, the settlers don't eat.