We bale hay from four different fields. Two of the fields are on our property and the others are up the road and belong to some friends. They don't use the hay, so if we're willing to bale it we can have it.
Before the baling took place this is what the hay loft looked like. We store the hay here for the winter and feed the cows in that area below. (If you look closely you can see a cow nose down there on the right.)
The first step of the day is raking the hay into rows. This starts in the mid-morning, once the dew has dried. Farmer John's Dad mans the tractor for the day. They attach this rake to the tractor and off he goes. 
There are little tines on the rake that lift the hay and lay in in a row. Here is one of our fields raked and ready for baling. 
While the hay in being raked, Farmer John gets the baler ready to go. I have to say that this baler is probably the most amazing piece of equipment on the farm. It has the ability to scoop up hay, compact it into bales, then knot and cut twine around the bales. It's fascinating to watch, and these photos really don't do it justice. If you were sitting on the tractor and turned around, this is the view of the baler. The pick-up turns and pull the hay toward the auger. The auger pushes it into the bale chamber.
Here's the back of the baler. Farmer John is standing next to the bale chamber. The plunger compacts the hay in the chamber then the most awe-inspiring part of the process happens. 
This is the knotter mechanism. It's one part engineering and two parts black magic. I used to think there were little men in the baler frantically tying knots around the bales, but it's really these little stainless-steel fingers. Farmer John is convinced that even the engineers that designed it don't know how it works. 
After the knots are tied and the twine is cut, the bales come out at the back of the baler. This is Farmer John's Dad riding into battle against the heat and forage.
The bales drop from the baler one by one and are spread throughout the field. It is my job to stack them in groups to make loading the bales more efficient.
The bales are packed soundly onto the back of the pick-up for transport back to the barn. 
Once back at the barn the crew unloads the bales from the truck. Farmer John got a new toy this year, a hay elevator. This wonderful contraption works as a conveyor moving the hay from the pick-up bed to the top of the loft. Before the elevator, the hay had to be thrown from the truck to the top of the loft.
The baler counts the bales as it ties them. Here is our total from day three.
Here is the barn after three days of putting in hay. Lots of hard, sweaty work went into filling the barn. Farmer John and I can't do this on our own and are very grateful for all the extra workers that come to help us.
There are few feelings as satisfying as looking into the loft and seeing all that hay. It's a whole winters' worth of feed that we harvested for our livestock. Our total number of bales now stands at 976. 
Farmer John worked with a couple other guys to set the bridge abutments. They measured, dug, leveled, spread gravel and set concrete blocks. The process took longer than they were expecting, and the heat wave didn't help. But, look what we have now:
The cow is being a good mom, and the calf appears to be healthy. She has two eyes and four legs, and for now we're grateful for that. 
It took two chains, the "come-along", the four-wheeler and both of us, but we got the coop right side up. And at one point in the rainy, muddy process I thought "Wow, I'm thankful we both have health insurance." 
Go to a baseball game! 
It was a beautiful day in Pittsburgh - perfect for enjoying the view from the cheap seats and cheering on our favorite teams. I root for the Cubs...
And here's what it looked like this afternoon. Farmer John's Dad mowed both our hay fields. In this photo the middle hasn't been cut, but the rest is done.
The yellow thing sticking off the back of the tractor is the hay-mower. The blades are at the bottom of the yellow guard. Farmer John and his Dad were working on a problem with the mower - and in the end it was a problem that could be fixed with a spud bar. (For the record, the spud bar is my third-favorite farm tool.)
After the hay was cut, Farmer John and I spread out the clumps of hay. This photo was from the upper hay-field, which had most of the clumps. If they don't get spread out then the hay won't dry.
After all the hay was de-clumped (yes, that's the official farm term!) we just hung out in the hay field. It was a very pleasant evening. The birds were singing, the creek was running and the fresh cut hay smelled so good.
We are lucky to be able to sell some of the berries to our friends and co-workers. (Thank you!!) The rest of the berries stay with us. Some just get eaten plain. The rest go into tasty treats. 
True, no one learned to read today nor did they learn anything more about biology. But, look at that pile of weeds! (There’s some lettuce in there too that’s done for the season) That’s was a lot of work in the heat. I love that I have something to show for all that work.
The farm didn't look any worse than when we left it. The gardens did quite well in our absence. This is mostly because Farmer John worked very hard right before we left to get them in shape. Also, we are using straw mulch for the first time. It's workng like a charm and keeping the weeds at bay.
We picked, and sold, lots of raspberries before we left. Farmer John's Mom was also able to get enough for a batch of jam. But the berries keep coming, and more were ready when we got home.
And, this little one isn't so little anymore. She got taller while we were away, and is very energetic. 
