by Audrey

“What in the world are you going to do with a big bag of flour?”  That was the question we got from the couple behind us in the checkout line a while back, and that single question has bothered me ever since.  Have we, as a society, turned so far away from our roots that we don’t know what to do with a bag of flour?! Now, I know that this most likely doesn’t speak for the majority of people, but it is becoming more and more common.  We are becoming a people of convenience and losing the art of cooking from scratch in the home.  I know I've already talked about the WHY to cook from scratch in a previous blog, but I thought I’d share some thoughts and tips on HOW we can hold on to those roots a little tighter in our homes.

I grew up looking at pictures and drawings of the loose stacks of hay out in the fields. I never thought that I would ever do anything other than bale hay. My opinion changed after my wife and I bought our little homestead with a large storage shed. Our field is small and it makes sense to do everything by hand from the cutting to the drying, to the stacking. The process is really simple to explain but a lot of fun to see. This doesn't describe the fancy stacks necessary to dry and store hay out in the field. This is a method that works great for covered storage.

Haymaking is definitely one of my favorite things to do on my little farm. I have enjoyed it since I was young and I enjoy it even more now that I am doing it all by hand. Haymaking has helped me build a closer connection with the world around me. I hope to share a taste of this joy with you as well as sharing the method I use to make hay. The second part of haymaking, (drying the hay) starts after cutting the hay and is just as important as any of the steps in the haymaking process.