Quack and a Haybailer

mnhomesteader (55)in #homesteading • 6 years ago

Last year brought with it its share of hard times. There was that trip to the ER, forking up our savings for a new septic, and the loss of our unborn baby. But, for all the bad, the blessings most definitely outweighed the bad! This year has been off to a good start and we are only a few days in! While not groundbreaking, we have already added two new additions to our farmstead!

We welcome our newest addition to the barnyard, Quack the duck. Can you spot her? She sticks out from the crowd.

A childhood neighbor and friend (big brother?) of mine stopped out on New Years to drop off this little gal at our farm. They have a flock of chickens and Quack was their only duck. As anyone with ducks well knows, ducks are messy! Quack was no different. As we already have a dedicated duck coop, separate from chickens, we gladly took her in (we would probably take in any animal, except dogs/cats/horses). She seems to have settled in here just fine with the rest of her new duck friends!

After two years here, I suppose it is about time to start building up our arsenal of farm equipment! Naturally, I figured we would purchase a tractor first. Like everything else around here, the expected and most logical path from the outside looking in was not the path we selected! Go figure :D

When a family member decided to sell his bailer, we decided to purchase it. I kind of feel like a little boy getting that new farm toy at Christmas, only this one isn't fitting under our tree.

So now we have a bailer, but no tractor (or haybine) :D

No matter, our budget is giving us hints that obtaining a tractor should be possible this Spring and maybe a haybine later in the year. We'll see. Right now I can slip that frozen stem of grass in my mouth, sit in the sub-zero degree garage, and dream of pulling this bailer behind my future tractor. Okay, enough of that. Time to head into the warm house and poly some wood floors!

It's a good thing we burn wood and it's like 80 degrees in here, or I'd be cringing at the money that would be escaping out this open window into the -22 deg F Minnesota night air. We have had to keep some fresh air flowing through the house as we apply the finish on a few of our floors.