Day-to-day Journey: Of Rewarding Work

Last Saturday, the Lord blessed us with a bountiful harvest of hay :). In the fall/summer of 2012, we paid a local farmer to seed our 10 acres of pasture in preparation for baling season. Now we have around 200 bales of hay! Even though it is usually hard for small farmers to find people with the machines needed to cut and bale the hay, we found someone who was willing to bale both our fields and take 150 bales as our payment. So, all in all, everything worked out well! On Saturday my brother, father, and I spent a hot day in both

fields collecting the hay from the fields and transferring them to the barn. I drove our tractor while the boys rode in the trailer. Eventually, we got a system that worked successfully: I drove the tractor the to nearest bale of hay, my dad jumped out of the trailer and lifted the hay into it, then we drove off again. (As I stress about how hot and hard farming is, please keep in mind that, while my dad was doing all the heavy physical work, I was getting bitten by little nasty bugs while driving the tractor. Yes, when we had finished I was not sore or tired like my father, yet being in the sun all day really sucks the life out of you.) Anyway, my dad let me keep 6 or 7 bales of hay out in the field for me to jump over with my horse…that was fun :) Since it was around 93 degrees and we were in the full sun most of the day, I now sport a elegant “farmer’s tan.” So, in conclusion, though farming is hot and hard work, it is definitely worth the time and effort. When I look out of my bedroom window and see the hay piled high outside, I can’t help but sigh with satisfaction. Not only did we save money by baling the hay ourselves, but we certainly had fun doing it.