Late Summer Passing

The summer, once it finally arrived, seems to be passing by so quickly! A lot going on in our daily lives, so I haven't posted much. 

The giant phlox continues to amaze, blooming now into its third month!

I thought I would catch you up with some summer photos.  Remember in my last post I showed you a wagon load of straw?  Well, thanks to some fine help (ranging in age from 4 to 8 to 33 - grandsons, daughter and son-in-law!) we unloaded it all and got the wagon cleaned right up....

Next, the second cutting of hay.  I wanted twice as much in the barn this year as I had last year (I think hay could be a bit scarce this winter).  I was so relieved when this scene ~

My husband keeping watch on the progress

Turned into this scene ~

Before this scene rolled in!

I even got to do rake part of the field!  Raking is turning the swath of cut hay over - flipping it almost - to let the fresh air and sunshine dry or cure the grasses so it doesn't mold and spoil in the bale.  You do this after cutting but before baling.  I love raking hay, its one of my favorite jobs, with plenty of barn swallows alongside for companionship, gobbling up bugs...

This tractor belongs to our friend, the hay farmer.  You can see the sky getting darker back behind the Burnham barn!

Four year old Elliot is glad the hay is in the barn, too!  We now have hay (both first and second cuttings) and straw filling both mows of the barn as well as this last load on the barn floor.  You can see we go all the way to the beams and nearly to the lower roof line - woohoo!!!  There may a third cutting of hay yet, but we won't keep any of that. 

A 2011 lamb can't wait for me to spread this straw around!

Having the top of the barn full of hay and straw not only will feed the animals this winter but will provide much needed insulation to the lower part of the barn.  This will be especially important this year because we are planning to lamb much earlier than usual - February, if the rams do their job!  Brrrr....

Along with all of this, we have had a bit of a garden to keep up with and some other projects I want to share more about in another post.  Now, suddenly it's September.  My youngest grandson (above) started preschool  (how?  when?  the time goes faster and faster....)

This week the barn swallows lined up in rows on the wires.  And now they are gone....

They left early this year.