Hay

The barn has a ton of beautiful sweet smelling hay in it. We've traded two lambs for it and last evening Joel and I pitched it up into the barn loft. He pitched a forkful up into the loft and I moved it back out of the way of the next forkful. Hot dusty work, but the hay smells so sweet and it is such a good feeling to have it. We don't have very many sheep and in this climate they can depend on pasture for much of the winter. But the time comes when they need the hay. This year we won't have to buy any off island an haul it over here.

For years, those of us who have animals on the island have fantasized about having a hay baler. But the amount of hay we put up and the small amount of land we hay has simply never justified the expense. So we put it up the same way my grandfather did, forkful by forkful.