Its the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

If you ask Josh what his favorite time of year is he would answer, without hesitation, that its haying season.  There is just something about haying that he loves.  Tuesday, May 31st, was the beginning of a very busy haying season for us and the kids and I got to ride along for about an hour for the very first part of the very first cutting!

We all actually squeezed into the wind rower...comfortably!



View from inside the cab looking down at the hay.  The glare from the windshield makes it hard to make it out, but you can see the hay being fed through the head to be wind rowed out the back. 




Front row seat.




While we were mowing, Papa Loren went by with a wagon to be repaired with the welder.




Peek-a-boo through the steering wheel.




See the wind rows (strips of hay) on the left side of the picture?  The mower cuts the hay and leaves them in these pretty wind rows for the chopper to go over to chop into smaller pieces called haylage to used for feed.  In the upper right hand corner of the picture is our place and the silo you see is where the haylage will ultimately end up.




Overlooking the field towards Josh's grandparent's place.  The two silos you see will also be filled, many times, yet this summer.




Arrival of the fuel!





I think this was the meeting to strategically plan how the hay should appropriately be used to the best of their entertainment.




First, they ran the as far as they cared to with no limits.  When they discovered I wasn't going to stop them, they came back!




And then they started hurdling.  Do you think my long-legged Dutch young'uns have a future in track and field?



The Mighty Mowing Machine.  This is the wind rower.  The head in the front of the machine cuts the hay at the ground. It goes through the head and is "organized" into the rows that you've seen in the previous pictures, coming out under the machine right behind the front wheels.



Another view.  I'll be sure to put a blog up about when they chop the hay, too.  That will be the next step.




Our ride home.

 I love summer time on the farm!  We are outdoors as much as possible and this is the kind of stuff that we get to do all the time!  We are blessed :-)