404 More Bales

I got to the farm today, late for a Saturday, and found the Hay Riches (the two guys named Rich from whom we buy most of our hay) unloading. I'd gone to breakfast with hubby & mum-in-law, and then on to drop off a computer and Christmas presents at a friend's house while I knew she was there. (I still have her Christmas presents because we've had a terrible time connecting...)

So, I pull in to the barn to the unison ribbing from the Hay Riches about how I'd slept in, nice to finally join them, what was I doing-- getting my Valentine's Day activity in early? Blah-blah-blah-- a great, family feeling of inclusion and good-natured acceptance. I really like these guys. They take good care of my BO, make good quality hay, and always bring a team of their own kids, their neighbors, their friends-- everyone-- to help with the hard work. They genuinely seem to like to visit with us and ask a few questions about horses every time. The have girl children, live on miles of great hay acreage, work their buns off making hay (around very demanding jobs with the state utility company), and they don't have horses themselves! Go figure!

So unload we do; they've done about 100 of the 152 bales on this load, so I got off easy. They head home for load #2-- to make good use of the warm enough to have melted the ice, but not so warm that the driveways are mud yet today weather-- and I finish the last two stalls of the morning. (I AM late-- BO has done almost all the stalls already this morning!) Then inside so she can grab coffee & lunch, and we can chat a bit about the upcoming clinic in May. About 20 minutes in, here comes load #2 of hay.

Back to the barn, up into the mow, and the chatter begins. Must be something about electricians, because these guys are funny. Every line out of their mouths is a joke, which is just like the two best electrician friends I have in the union. It's a tradesman's skill, I think, that being able to chatter non stop and be funny and really personable. People who are happy and confident in the work they are doing, with their hands busy and their mouths free. It's an absolute joy to be around, and I feel all the bullshit of my crappy office job wash off when I'm out there slinging hay with the guys.

148 on this load

Away they go, and away we head to the feed store for bedding. We've been going through it like mad with the horses in so much these last weeks, and the sawmill down the road where we usually get it by the dump-truck load isn't sawing this year like they have been, so we're buying it by the bag. That's expensive, a cost we're likely to see continue to rise....

We get pulled over by a cop because the farm truck's inspection sticker ran out in December. Oops. BO gives them the sweet little old lady face, and we get off with a warning and giggle all the way home.

Unload the shavings, and BO goes in to make an appointment to get the farm truck inspected & lubed this week, and here come the hay guys one last time.

This time, while up in the mow, Rich #2 asks about haying our hay fields this summer, which thrills me to pieces. I'd proposed it last year-- that they've got such a machine going with the many, many fields they hay that we'd be better off paying them to hay ours as well than scrambling to find time and help to get ours done. It kills the BO to have to pay for her own hay, but, shit, we lost 400 bales last summer to rain because we didn't have enough help to get it in before the storms, so WTF?!

But when I'd asked the Riches about it, they sort of hemmed & hawed-- not having priced a job like this (where they'd use our equipment and diesel), they were a bit at a loss as to know what to charge us. And they're good, honest farmboys who know the only reason we're asking is because we're a couple of chicks who just don't have the time or the help to get it done. Their chivalrous nature (god I love that about farm guys) won't let them just give us a price to decide yes or no on because they sort of feel like they ought to help us out.

So, anyway, I'd thought the matter was dead, but they brought it up, and offered a tentative price at exactly what I'd thought was a good price. We confirmed a bit the number of acres, and that we don't have a hay kicker (which shoots the bales out of the baler into a wagon) and we don't acutally have a wagon-- we pick up bales by pickup truck and haul them down to the barn. Well, that's more work, so maybe a higher price...

...or maybe a trade on riding lessons for the daughters...

God, I love farming. Trading, chivalry, working it out, pitching in and helping...it's so different from so much of the rest of the life I live, have lived all this time.

So, it's in negotiations. Which is good. Talk it out now and get it straight before the misery of the actual season begins...

Last load, last of what the Hay Riches have for us this season-- 104 bales. Nice. Yummy! The horses will be so happy, and we are so relieved to have a pretty full mow in mid-February. No running out if April runs long and cold. No scrambling to find sellers...it's all good and done!

And then it was time to pat the horses and head home for the afternoon.

Tomorrow, we ride, dammit! Hooray! Finally!