Well, the saying goes "make hay while the sun shines"......so farmer Tommy cut down two fields of hay Tuesday and we prayed for the weather to hold! Today Maddie raked the hay (for the first time) with the small tractor and hay rake. After about 2 hours (enough time for it to dry sufficiently) Tommy came along behind her and started baling! The sun was blazing and things were going great so the rest of us started setting up for CSA as happy as any farmer can be! The feeling of harvesting 40 acres of hay is really like walking on water or something amazing! About 1/3 of the way into CSA we heard thunder and began to pray. The Bible says, God works all things for the good of those that love him, but in this case His plan was for half the hay to get rained on! That wasn't quite what we had hoped for, but we are so thankful to have half the hay nicely baled and safe! The rest will have to dry out and get raked 2 more times to dry again and then can get baled. The downside is some of the nutrients are leached out into the ground....think about making tea. When the rain pours over the dry hay the good qualities leach out instead of staying locked inside the stems. So the animals will have to eat a little more of it next winter to be nourished. But that's how it goes sometimes! It was quite a joy to have the hay be all down by our two biggest farmer children! Everyone else happily pitched in to help with extra chores so we could get it all done.The garden is taking off! Squash and cucumbers are coming on strong this week! Collard greens galore! I found this great post for using a whole chicken in case you are running out of ideas! We can't wait to try this collards recipe! Don't forget to use the greens on top of your beets for cooking as well!Well we hope you enjoy everything and Remember the Meat pick up dates for JUNE are coming up! Saturday June 1st 3 to 5 pm and Thursday June 6th 2 to 4 pm! Delivery for meat is June 6th.