What's everybody doing today?

[hashbrown]

We just got home from the lake. We didn’t do as good as I hoped for. We ran lines all night and didn’t do as well as I’d hoped we only ended up with 12 channel catfish was hoping for 20. That just means we will have to go out another night before we have our fish fry. We did have a fun evening but everyone is wore out today.

 

[Peanut]

. So now I am wondering if that is true, or she is trying to sell me crappy hay.......I guess we will go get a little to see. If the hay got that much rain it would not have dried this fast I imagine?

Getting wet doesn't ruin hay. If it's dried properly after the rain and then baled it'll be fine. I have a 'hay tedder' or 'fluffer'. If my hay got wet I'd run the fluffer over it. This picks the hay up, tosses it around, allows air to get underneath, allowing it to dry completely.

If the hay was baled wet then it is junk hay. It's going to mold or worse, it might spontaneously combust. Even burn down your barn.... Smell the hay for a musty odor, feel for heat in the bale.

Easy to educate yourself on hay... every time you see a farmer baling hay stop and ask about it, look at it, feel & smell it, with permission of course. Once you know how good hay smells/feels then you'll also know when it doesn't smell or feel right. I can even tell how much fertilizer was put on the grass by smelling the hay, comes with experience. Easy to get that experience by stopping and talking to farmers. Check a dozen or so fields, doable in one summer... At least one of those dozen farmers is going to be a talker... tell you every thing you need to know about soil and grass in your area.

Between you and me… I hated selling hay to someone who doesn’t know hay. No clue as to what they are buying. They ask a bunch of ignorant irrelevant questions and always in an accusatory tone. Not a pleasant experience. (darn fool questions as my grandpa would say). Or even worse try to get a discount based on their imagined suspicions. The next year I’d tell such a returning customer I have no hay for sale, don’t want to even deal with them. I rather let a few rolls of hay rot in the field than deal with a… I know other farmers feel the same. I suggest educating yourself. The people you buy from will appreciate it (the honest ones). This leads to long term relationships with many other benefits besides good hay.

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No plans but a little tv...

 

[ABR]

Another day of canning and homework. Got almost 2 dozen each of quarts and pints squash/zucchini pickles done yesterday and got the first of many batches of chow chow prepped for today. I'll can that and prep several more batches for tomorrow.

 

[Hooch]

It's been a whirlwind the last two weeks.
Mainly work..nights..were back on pine too. Wet heavy finger smashing pine.
Last weekend was all about catching up on chores. This weekend is supposed to be too..
I've gotten a few things done, but I whoa'ed myself up a bit.
My neighbor, who him and his wife have become my friends here are in the process of selling their house n planning on moving to Arizona. They are both getting older, he is 76 and since he retired about 4 years ago , they snow bird it to Arizona in winter. They decided the last few decades of snow in winter has been enough n he wants to rope and cowboy all winter until he cant.
I just caught up with him as I was watering my garden a few days ago. He stopped by on his way home from roping n just got back from taking a load of stuff down to their new property in AZ.
He filled me in on the latest and told me he going to head out with another load friday to head down n back over the weekend.
I'm bummed to see them go..but I totally understand. Snow country living isnt easy n while the heat isnt ideal..the activities they enjoy will be eaiser for them year round.
Well..yesterday morning my other neighbor stops by to let me know our friend had a massive brain aneurysm on his way down south. Thankfully he was stopped at a truck stop to check is load. Thankfully his adult granddaughter was with him n got him help but it doesnt look good.
Were all still waiting on updates. I know he wont be happy if he cant ride, rope and travel about.
So although I have a bunch of stuff to do..this is one of those reminders to enjoy life every day.

 

[herbalnewbie]

I spent the morning serving coffee for a church service and a half, had a meeting at church at 11 and another planned for 6 tonight. I was stung by a wasp on my nose yesterday and I look deformed today. My face is itchy and red and it hurts to wear my glasses, so other than the things I had already committed to at church, I'm not doing much else today.

 

[Wingnut]

It's Sunday, right? So it'll be an easy day... that ol' sun was beatin' down something fierce in the yard this morning, and I'm gonna chillax indoors for the rest of the day. Might cut my hair, I noticed it was getting long... anything over 1/8" on the lower sides and back of my head is considered "long" after my time in the Infantry, lol. I have a high thermostat as it is, so I get warm easily... better to have short hair during summer in the high desert. In a perfect world, I'd have metal cooling fins riveted to my skull, making some sorta hardcore punk rock statement as I beat the heat, lol...

"THE PISTOLS & THE REJECTS GOTS NOTHIN' ON ME!!!"

Where was I? Oh, yeah, I may just hafta mix those Pina Coladas later this afternoon, prior to cooking that bad boy beef roast for dinner, lol. Note to self: cut hair BEFORE drinking rum, lol. My electric clippers make haircuts easy, only takes me about 10 minutes, tops, and I save heller money by cutting my own hair. I reckon I need a haircut about once a month, maybe a little more often, and that means I'm saving at least $150 per year, if you factor in tips. I've had these Sunbeam clippers for 20 years or so, which means I've saved a fair amount of money during that time.

Hey, every little bit helps, especially in this Fraudulent Biden Era when everything is stupid expensive... every dollar I save means that much more money for steaks & beers, lol. Ah, the Bachelor Life! It's a $h!tty job, but SOMEBODY has to do it! Lol. Maybe I'll get married one day... just as soon as I find that scorching-hot supermodel willing to cook, clean, do laundry, and scrub 1/4-mile-long Alabama skid marks outta my cr@pper with a toothbrush, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Ain't love grand? I'll let ya know if I happen to find the love of my life... in the meantime, I soldier on, which means PAR-TAY!!!

Dang, sometimes I slay myself... but it's all good, I've shacked up with women before, so I don't feel left out, lol. And I don't miss the nagging, that's for sure... somehow that reminds me of a cassette tape I once saw marketed in an ad in a sailing magazine, one side had NYC traffic noise on it (to play in quiet anchorages), and the other side had surf pounding on a reef (to keep those on watch awake, lol). I always wondered if anybody actually bought that cassette, lol. I reckon it was a "gag gift" for rich yachtsmen... I can't see myself playing NYC traffic noise in a secluded cove in Baja, lol.

 

[Mountain trapper]

So the lady that had some nice hay and we got a few ( just 20) bales of hay, small square bales, texted me Thursday that they were cutting hay and planned on baling it Friday. She wanted to know if we wanted to come get some. I didn't see the text till right before the big thunderstorm and texted here that there was a severe thunderstorm warning and hope the hay doesn't get ruined. Didn't hear back from here until last night , read the text just now. Now she says the hay didn't get cut till Friday and didn't get rained on and they baled it yesterday. So now I am wondering if that is true, or she is trying to sell me crappy hay.......I guess we will go get a little to see. If the hay got that much rain it would not have dried this fast I imagine?

Today I am going to do the rest of the laundry, clean the house and bake pretzels. I am going to see if I can back good enough once to sell at the market.

Do you have a moisture probe for checking the moisture content of the hay? It might be worth getting one if you live in an area that can get rain during hay season. We never get rain here during summer but I still check the moisture content of the hay that'll be stored in the barn.

 

[sonya123]

Getting wet doesn't ruin hay. If it's dried properly after the rain and then baled it'll be fine.

https://www.dairyherd.com/news/what...been cut,microbial breakdown of plant tissue.
have to respectfully disagree with you on that....
Hay that has been rained on ( not talking about a few sprinkles) is inferior hay, even if you dry it afterwards. It is still useable but should cost much less.
( just linked the first article I could find on that here but we found that out from the ag extension office when we first started doing this)

I just don't have a practical way of figuring out if it has been rained on or not. I just have to trust this lady or not. I know what too wet hay looks and feels like ( REALLY heavy bales are a dead giveaway)

PLus there is this, you need better hay for goats and sheep than you do for cows. Goats will eat weeds but moldy hay is not acceptable and inferior dry hay makes them waste half of it. The perfect hay for goats and sheep is second cutting dry, green mixed grass hay, some weeds are ok.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Got up this morning and made potato pancakes for breakfast. Had sausage, bacon and eggs with it. All cooked on the outdoor griddle on the back deck.
Then I loaded up the truck with garbage and went to the dump.
I might take a nap after lunch. When it cools down this evening I need to cut some trees along the driveway to make room for the cement truck. Almost forgot, I need to put in some posts in the garden for the tomato plants.
Pretty easy day.

 

[Magus]

Going insane and taking every one with me

you know my bags are packed! where we going?

 

[dademoss]

Clean out and declutter has begun, 3 bags of Tshirts destined for Mathew 25 Ministries.

Next, my office

 

[sonya123]

Do you have a moisture probe for checking the moisture content of the hay? It might be worth getting one if you live in an area that can get rain during hay season. We never get rain here during summer but I still check the moisture content of the hay that'll be stored in the barn.

yes I have one
We get a lot of rain and humidity here

 

[Spikedriver]

https://www.dairyherd.com/news/what...been cut,microbial breakdown of plant tissue.
have to respectfully disagree with you on that....
Hay that has been rained on ( not talking about a few sprinkles) is inferior hay, even if you dry it afterwards. It is still useable but should cost much less.
( just linked the first article I could find on that here but we found that out from the ag extension office when we first started doing this)

I just don't have a practical way of figuring out if it has been rained on or not. I just have to trust this lady or not. I know what too wet hay looks and feels like ( REALLY heavy bales are a dead giveaway)

PLus there is this, you need better hay for goats and sheep than you do for cows. Goats will eat weeds but moldy hay is not acceptable and inferior dry hay makes them waste half of it. The perfect hay for goats and sheep is second cutting dry, green mixed grass hay, some weeds are ok.

I am in agreement. Hay that gets rained on can be rolled and let dry, but it's never quite as good. This is especially true if it gets rained on after it has been windrowed. I have salvaged wet hay before though, and it can be perfectly usable. On the land my brother now farms the hay is all grass hay, which dries faster and easier than alfalfa. With the right conditions it's cut one day and baled the next so rain is less of a worry.

 

[Bacpacker]

Even windowed hay can be tended and raked back later. If it don't stay wet for a long period, if was just cut ant started drying much in particular
That said I've never had goats or sheep

 

[Bacpacker]

Finally got home from work, throwd on some shorts and hit the porch with a good cigar. 86 and around 50% humidity. Just CHILLAXIN

 

[LadyLocust]

Hubby’s brother and 2 youngest step munchkins came over yesterday for supper then we walked down to the river and picked I think about 14 - 16 pints of blackberries. They were all eating as many as were going in the baskets. Sent many home with them. Kept some and made Hubby 12 mini pies to go with his icecream.
I canned 8 pints of corn which should be the end of what we need this year.
Hubby made 5 qts of pickles and has peppers on the smoker thanks to @Mountain trapper .
I’ve been wrestling with weeds and tomato vines in between kitchen things.

 

[ABR]

Dealing with a sick horse, school assignments whose links aren't working, and canning. I can't seem to catch a break right now between sick animals and still not being fully recovered from bronchitis. Oh and we haven't had rain in over 2 months and it's hot as Hades to boot.

 

[Bacpacker]

Take care of yourself

 

[Mountain trapper]

Hubby’s brother and 2 youngest step munchkins came over yesterday for supper then we walked down to the river and picked I think about 14 - 16 pints of blackberries. They were all eating as many as were going in the baskets. Sent many home with them. Kept some and made Hubby 12 mini pies to go with his icecream.
I canned 8 pints of corn which should be the end of what we need this year.
Hubby made 5 qts of pickles and has peppers on the smoker thanks to @Mountain trapper .
I’ve been wrestling with weeds and tomato vines in between kitchen things.

I just noticed that I'm down to my last bottle of hot sauce. I need to pick up a couple pounds of habanaros and get them in the smoker so i can make another batch of hot sauce. I have a couple bags of ghost and scorpion peppers in the freezer. They add a little heat to the habanaros. Also need to make a couple jars of hot pickles.

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

https://www.dairyherd.com/news/what...been cut,microbial breakdown of plant tissue.
have to respectfully disagree with you on that....
Hay that has been rained on ( not talking about a few sprinkles) is inferior hay, even if you dry it afterwards. It is still useable but should cost much less.
( just linked the first article I could find on that here but we found that out from the ag extension office when we first started doing this)

I just don't have a practical way of figuring out if it has been rained on or not. I just have to trust this lady or not. I know what too wet hay looks and feels like ( REALLY heavy bales are a dead giveaway) .....

Hay that was rained on after being dried will have a yellow/brown colour to it, much like the sun weathered look on the outside of round bales left out in the field for awhile. If it was rained on more than once, it will be leaning more to black and skanky.

Work your hand as far into the middle of some random bales as you can, and pull out some hay. It should have a fresh grassy smell like fresh cut lawn and be some shade of pale green. There shouldn't be a lot of heat either.

If you know when it was baled, checking it weeks or more later will make it even more obvious. Slightly loose bales are better as they can breath. Even if hay hasn't been rained on, humidity at time of baling and not being properly dried can also cause hay to mold. There are acids that are sometimes sprayed on hay to prevent that particular problem.

Rained on hay has less nutrients and is of lesser quality. An honest producer will price accordingly or state that it had some rain but tough dodo, this is my price.

 

[Peanut]

I worked hay on a 48hr clock. So I was glued to every weather report I could find in the days before cutting. Equipment does break down occasionally so I tried for a 96hr window but usually settled for a 72hrs of sun.

When hay gets rain and how much is critical. Say I cut one afternoon and it rains that first night… The hay is still green, it’ll absorb very little water. This isn’t going to affect drying time in a big way or the nutrients.

If it gets the same amount of rain 36hrs into the process or the 2nd night, then it’s a problem. The hay is nearly dry at that point so it’ll absorb water (rain). In effect it has to be dried twice, each time taking nutrients with it.

To say rain harms hay is a general statement that may or may not be true given the circumstance. When it gets rain and how much rain is what affects the quality, not necessarily the fact it rained.

I started baling 48hrs after I cut. If it got wet and running a tedder over it still allowed me to start baling on time there wasn’t a noticeable drop off in quality.

If it got so wet it required another 24hrs of drying time or 72hrs total… (dried twice). Then yes, there is a definite drop in quality.

So what I just wrote is in complete agreement with the 2nd paragraph of your article. Just different ways of saying the same thing.
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I just don't have a practical way of figuring out if it has been rained on or not. I just have to trust this lady or not. I know what too wet hay looks and feels like ( REALLY heavy bales are a dead giveaway)

2 summers ago I knew I was going to have to buy hay for the horses and a beef calf. I knew I was going to buy from one of 3 people, 2 were cousins.

I watched their fields all summer. I knew when they fertilized, when rains fell and when they cut. I knew who had the best hay and purchased from him. I knew as much about his hay as he did, without a tester.

So to help... in the spring pick a few farmers that sell hay and watch their fields til fall. Even if it means taking the long way to town for errands, just to keep an eye on a field I'm interested in. Especially near cutting time. That's the only practical way I know of to be sure of the hay you buy.

 

[LadyLocust]

So I went out and practiced my weedeating in case I get to go to work with @Bacpacker and protect him from his coworkers

Also mowed and watered since I was at it.
@Hooch glad you are okay. I was just thinking about you. Sorry to hear about your friend/neighbor. He might surprise you. I think that’s what Hashbrown went through and he’s almost as ornery as he was before . Prayers for him and his family.

 

[Bacpacker]

Don't be surprised if I take you up on that Lady.One of my techs got all kinds of pissed Friday so I'm expecting him to be on a rant tomorrow. He's 6-7 and I'm 6-4, all the other guys get bug eyed when we get into it.


Not the first time, he likes to argue, seems to take pleasure in it. He'll argue when you agree with him

 

[txcatlady]

Is there a good way to store them long term other than canning? We used all ours up before they went bad last year but this year we have way more and I really don't like canned potatoes.

Where I live no. I know a guy who had a barn with shelves that had hardware cloth and he spread out single layer. I am pre soaking and boiling 10 minutes and soaking 2 more times and it has pulled a lot of starch out. Got 2 canners going now for 13 more quarts. I have dehydrated a lot in past. I dug up about 300 pounds and don’t want to waste. I even left skin on. They look great

 

[LadyLocust]

Don't be surprised if I take you up on that Lady.One of my techs got all kinds of pissed Friday so I'm expecting him to be on a rant tomorrow. He's 6-7 and I'm 6-4, all the other guys get bug eyed when we get into it.


Not the first time, he likes to argue, seems to take pleasure in it. He'll argue when you agree with him

I’m only 5’4”. Wait till you see that confrontation Be ready to holler “Timber!”

 

[txcatlady]

I've been counting down for a year now. If I'd had my crap together I would have left 2 years ago. As it is early 2026 is gonna be it for me. Just not in the cards to make it happen any sooner.
BELIEVE me I have looked at many various options. But bottom line I've got to get things to a certain point so the wife could get by if something happens to me.

When I retired in 2015 I never dreamed husband would become disabled within 6 months. He had no retirement plan. He now is bitter, angry, negative and mouthy anytime he is awake . He hates that I have to work part time as well as clean a ladies house every 2 weeks. I pay all bills and insurance. His goal in life was to be rich but made very poor financial decisions. Sadly I am disappointed in him. I am glad you are taking care of your wife’s future

 

[LadyLocust]

When I retired in 2015 I never dreamed husband would become disabled within 6 months. He had no retirement plan. He now is bitter, angry, negative and mouthy anytime he is awake . He hates that I have to work part time as well as clean a ladies house every 2 weeks. I pay all bills and insurance. His goal in life was to be rich but made very poor financial decisions. Sadly I am disappointed in him. I am glad you are taking care of your wife’s future

I put like not because you are in that situation, but because that is a very kind thing to share with someone who is struggling with work

 

[Bacpacker]

I'm sorry to hear that Catlady. I'm sure that makes life very difficult.

 

[Wingnut]

Here's a little something to cheer y'all up... I was sorting through those Hatch Chiles, looking for one with some heat to it so I could remove the seeds and mail 'em to LL, right? Well, when I was done setting the seeds aside on a paper plate, I bagged up the rest of the peppers and put 'em back in the fridge. Went to wash my hands and made the grievous error of splashing water on my face...

Cue the Charlie Brown line: "AAAAAUUUUGGGGHHHHHH!!!"

My eyeballs were on FIRE, like MOLTEN LAVA!!! I felt like some wannabe idiot rapist who just got pepper-sprayed in the eyeballs, lol. I'm talkin' about some SE-WIOUS heat, felt like my eyeballs were melting out of their sockets!!! Took a few minutes for them to settle down, now they're feeling somewhat normal but they look like I've been on a crying jag, lol.

"THIS HOMESTEADING SUCKS!!! I WANNA GO HOME!!! I MISS MY DEAD PARENTS!!!"

Time to go water the trees & plants... I never did mix up those Pina Coladas, I wound up reading a good Western instead. I also decided to clean out leftovers in the fridge, so I'll cook the beef roast manana, it won't hurt the roast if it sits another day in the fridge. I'm really turning into a PARTY POSER, must be the hot weather, lol... meh, I'll make up for it tomorrow!

P.S. I actually DO miss my dead parents, but I'm glad they're not around to see what a travesty our gubmint has become, aye? No worries, come election time I'm sure both of my parents will rise from the dead and vote for Biden, even though they were Republicans... maybe I'll see 'em down at the polling place! "MOM!!! DAD!!! HOW ARE YA DOING?!?"

 

[Peanut]

When I retired in 2015 I never dreamed husband would become disabled within 6 months. He had no retirement plan. He now is bitter, angry, negative and mouthy anytime he is awake .

It happened to me... One day I worked on 2 continents, a short time later I was a vegetable.

I'm a naturally positive person but... I was a grumpy cuss for several years. It was devastating, permanent, no cure. Took me years to just accept it, a lot of very dark days. It took even longer to build a new life, to find a way to live with my limitations. It still gets to me sometimes... have to shove the gremlin back in the closet.

I feel for you but have no helpful insights. It's up to him to stop dwelling on the past and go forward. It's not easy... not easy at all.