Friday, December 4, 2020

Other resources for hay

 We have sold out of hay.   Given the hay shortage this year, we are getting an unusual number of calls from people looking for hay, so I wanted to post the following information in case it helps someone.  

https://extension.umaine.edu/livestock/hay/ Cooperative Extension (CE) maintains separate lists of hay and straw producers.  As of early December, a lot of people have sold out.   Speaking only for our little hay operation, we were not able to hay at all in July due to weather, which is when we normally put up most of our hay volume.
 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/414887715356790/
You can post what hay you need and where you are located, and someone may respond.  Also, this Facebook page might be particularly helpful in unusual times, as it can include postings from people who decide to ship hay in from other parts of the country and resell, or small buyers who want to sell what they have for whatever reason.  These folks won't necessarily be on the list maintained by CE.
 
Your Local Feed Store.   Some local feed stores, such as Blue Seal or  Farmers Union, may sell bales of hay.  In normal times, they will usually cost more than buying from a farm, but in a shortage or if you need to drive far to a farm, the price difference may be minimal.
 
This Maine Cooperative Extension Webinar that may be of interest.   Note that you need to register, and can do that from the link.  I'm posting about this webinar before it airs, so I only have the following information from the CE webpage:
 
"Many livestock and equine owners in Maine purchase all of their hay and forage needs for winter. While this year’s growing season started out well, forage growth was reduced due to low rainfall in most of the state, especially for second and third hay cuttings.

This webinar will be presented at 10 a.m. and will be repeated at 6 p.m."

Tuesday, November 17, 2020


Haven't posted in a long time!   

It has been a very busy summer, perhaps because the pandemic pushes one to bring in a bit more hay (now all sold) and expand the vegetable gardens.

Bed #1, on 7/1/2020 (photo to right).   The gardens went in  ahead of schedule, due to a dry and early spring.

We hayed in June, as the hayfields were not their usual boggy spring selves.   Some early baler issues were resolved satisfactorily.   July usually brings most of the hay volume, but rains prevented any July haying.   We necessarily hayed the first two weeks in August, for feed hay.   For whatever reason, the Augusta cut was pretty good. 

After having slightly reduced the size of the vegetable gardens in recent years, the pandemic urged a move in the other direction, and we planted more winter squash that usual.   We filled two hay beds, two large in-ground beds, and six raised beds.

I always try to "plan" that something will not thrive.   That seems a reasonable prediction with organic vegetables.   This year, it was more than one thing, but still not bad given the strange weather.   

There are the summer only eating items, like greens, lettuce, and cucumbers.  We always want to put a lot of brocolli and green beans in the freezers for the winter, along with freezing smaller amounts snap peas, cauliflower, kale, and sliced carrots.   Most of the tomatoes were eaten fresh, but a few were boiled down into sauce.  The Brussels sprouts didn't make it, but made a newly arrived pest happy.

More carrots went whole into the root cellar, along with potatoes and celeriac.   

Dried sage and oregano are in the kitchen cupboards.

The regular cellar now has more than the usual amount of acorn squash, butternut squash, and pie pumpkins.

The other thing that did less well than usual was the onions.   We usually put lots of onions into the cellar, and enjoy them all winter.   The wild turkeys, who normally do no harm, decided to wander and scratch in the small onion seedlings this year.  Oh well.

On plan for next year:   extend fence around the onions. 

Thanks to everyone who bought hay or vegetables this year!