Growing Soil With Every Bale of Hay

One of the unexpected benefits I saw last year from feeding hay was that after each bale was more or less eaten by the cattle the remnants of hay left behind ending up being a great spot of pasture this year. As growing soil is a big part of our mission it's a big plus. In the photo above you can see where I drug another bale of hay through the bale from last week, and the soil that's already forming under it. To the right you can see a big green patch of green to the top right, that's where a bale was placed last year. 

Now each bale is placed in an area that isn't growing grass very well, or more simply, on my really crappy areas. It's astounding to watch in the spring as the remnants of that hay end up being a big green patch of pasture. Is it cost effective to add bales of hay simply as a soil amendment? No, but
there's no reason not to place the hay in areas where I'd like to see the soil improved.

I figure somewhere in the next decade I could really improve the worst areas quite a bit with nothing more than being cognizant of where I drop off my winter hay. Not a bad deal.

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So You Want to Be a Successful Homesteader? Marry Well.

I have mentioned my beautiful, smart, kind, amazing wife from time to time in this blog. What I haven't put into words what she means to me and the success of our little homestead.

Folks, if you're serious about self reliance, getting out of debt, raising children who turn into kind adults, it all starts with who you marry. I got so lucky. She is 100% in to what we're doing.

How did we get here? To marital bliss involving long family talks about the best way to manage intestinal parasites in a cattle herd? Communication. (And a sense of humor about how much I talk about intestinal parasites.) When she gets repeatedly shocked by an electric fence and still speaks to you the next day, you know you've found a keeper.

From the day we started dating, I had fixed in my mind what I wanted. A small homestead, with permaculture intertwined into the Joel Salatin method of raising Beef, Chicken, and Pork. I asked her her thoughts, bought books that I read and then offered up to her. I'm not perfect, while she's very close, but after buying the little farm I've worked hard to DO what I say and not make any of the homestead a burden on her.

When I'm out of town she picks up the slack on feeding and watering the animals. When I'm in town, I'm out feeding before I head to work, and feed again as soon as I get home. It works for us. I have never been so happy as I am right now.

We've seen the first of our animals graduate to the freezer. That 137 pounds of meat may not seem like a lot to most folks, but in it's own small way, it's proof of concept that yes we can feed ourselves in a financially viable way. With a half a hog going into the freezer soon, it should add to that feeling. By this time next year we should have another half a hog in the freezer another 20+/- chickens, a half of beef, and another couple of our own born and bred cattle halfway to maturity as well.

Who knows what the future holds, but there's no one I'd rather be sharing it with.