Our Hay Day

We made our annual hay-gathering expedition yesterday.  This year we bought hay from a farmer five miles down the road.  Here, Laura demonstrates her hay-loading prowess.  These bales were only $4.00 each, for a total of $48.00 -- money well spent.

Moving the bales one at a time in a wheelbarrow to garden level is the hardest part of the job.  Here, Laura lounges on top of the bales after the job is done.  There's the Rio Grande in the background.  I never buy my hay until the flood season is over.  Those are jujubes hanging from the tree on the left side of the picture.

Covered with a tarp to protect from rain, the hay will sit there all winter until I till it into the garden in March.  Cinderblocks filled with concrete, with eyebolts embedded into the concrete, make nifty bungee tie-down anchors.

"Stuff is more valuable than money," I like to say, "as long as it's the right stuff."  Hay is an excellent example of "right stuff."  You can add it to your garden, feed it to your animals, even eat it yourself if necessary.  (Thirty-five years ago I wrote an article for Mother Earth News about adding alfalfa hay to whole-wheat bread.  They rejected it, because the concept was too extreme even for them.  Alfalfa bread is really not so bad -- I separated out the green leafy part of the hay, ground it up with my hand grain mill, and added the powder to the bread dough.  When famine comes, this is good to keep in mind.)