Putting up hay was done very differently when I was a child. There were no balers to produce those huge round bales that we often see scattered over the hayfields and in road ditches. As a farm kid growing up in the 1950’s haying required that the alfalfa first, be mowed. The newly cut alfalfa would next be gathered up by a dump rake. The farmer on a tractor pulled the dump rake. The dump rake had rounded, metal teeth…..
“On and off” gentleman farmer might be a strange description when it comes to describing my farming behavior. But it does get across the point that I didn’t fit into the normal stereotypic ‘roll up your sleeves, dig in the dirt’ farmer role. My farming practices had their ups and downs. I grew up on a family farm and that old saying is so true, “You can take the boy off the farm but you can’t take the farm out…..
I was fencing today. There are two reasons for making a fence. Fences are needed to keep animals out of an area or fences are required to keep animals in an area. Today I was concentrating on keeping animals out of an area. You see it’s nearing pumpkin planting and gardening season so the battle begins between the gardener and the deer population. Deer love to eat anything I plant in the garden. They have a special fondness for pumpkins……