Typical August!

The title of this post refers to the hot and humid weather we have had this past week.  It’s been pretty uncomfortable at times, but really it’s to be expected here in Minnesota.  Our kitchen is normally the warmest place in the house, so yesterday I tried a little experiment.  I make yogurt every couple of days (I go through a LOT of yogurt).  I got the warm cultured  milk ready pretty early in the morning, then instead of putting it in the little cups in the yogurt maker, I put it in a glass bowl and just let it sit covered on the counter all day.  It worked great! So, if your kitchen is 85 to 90 degrees for extended periods of time, give it a try!

I brought home a new bird on Monday.  Meet Diego!

   

        

This handsome youngster is going to be Javier’s replacement as he will be retiring this fall.  I hope he is as good a bird as his predecessor. 

The main thing going on this week is the oats harvest.  We have a machine call a Swather that has been sitting in the shed unused for over 20 years.  Rollie made it his mission to get it running again and with some help and advice from his brother-in-law Kenny, he did it.  He tells me he doesn’t know how old this thing is, but probably older than he is (Kevin doesn't think so... perhaps some research is in order).  What the Swather does is cut the grain and lay it on the ground in swaths, hence the name.  We let it lay there a day or two so the green material in it (meaning the weeds) can dry.  Then the combine comes along and picks it up and separates the oats from the straw and the rest of the debris.  The combine can cut and separate the oats at the same time (guess that’s why it’s call a combine) but our grain has a fair amount of green stuff in it, and when that ends up in the bin with the grain, it heats up and will likely spoil.  It also makes for a bigger job to fan (clean) it later.  So, getting the Swather going is a really good thing.  It’s a pretty funky looking machine.

         

 Thank you Rollie!!!!

The green that you see now that the oats is cut is clover, which we planted, and whatever else grew up there.  Next year, this will be hay for the goats.

In other good news, we baled hay Wednesday evening, and straw yesterday, and we seem to have the knotter issue with the baler fixed.  This has been a very vexing problem and Kevin was about ready to junk the thing, so we are doing a happy dance over this.

So,  that's what's happening here on the farm.  Thanks for stopping by, and until next time, be well folks!