Growing More Hay

I showed you a picture of this year’s first cutting of hay in my “Hay Loft!” post.

It’s one of two small unfenced areas near the road that we’ve designated for growing hay. When we bought the place these areas were lawn, but we’re not lawn people and would rather put our ground to something productive. Now we get several cuttings of sudan grass here in the summer and grow wheat or wheat/oat hay here in winter. What I wanted to show you, though, is what it looks like at the back.

That leafy green mess of random shrubs and trees didn’t used to be there. Originally it contained a few ornamentals, and I tried to grow a hedge of bush cherries there, but somehow the whole area grew out of control. I had overlooked how much until we were raking and hauling the hay. I asked Dan what he thought about trying to reclaim it so we can grow a little more hay. He agreed and we got to work.

We gained a good 12 to 13 more feet for planting. In terms of large acreage that’s just a wisp on the wind, but with our small acreage every little bit helps.

We used to wish we had more land. We still wish it sometimes, but we know it would be more work to steward – to nurture and keep productive. We’d have to have larger equipment and more time to manage it. It’s relatively easy to hand scythe the area pictured above, but if we had acres-worth of hay, hand scything would be a huge undertaking. Right now our land is mostly in quarter- to half-acre areas, which is manageable for us at our age with the small-scale and low-tech tools that we have. Even so, we only had to buy two rolls of hay this past winter, compared to the four or five we bought the winter before. Our goal is to grow all of our own hay, but if push comes to shove I can downsize our number of goats.

Besides expanding the plot I’m also happy that it looks much tidier. I suppose the moral of the story is to not let it get out of control in the first place, but with so much to do that’s easier said than done! Let’s just hope I can keep it that way.