Phil's Runaway Bale

Phil was bringing a bale of hay to the cows at midday. After last time, when one of the big wheels actually lost contact with the earth as he went around a corner (very terrifying!), he carefully, safely maneuvered around the corner. He was going over a dip, and to keep equilibrium had the bale a bit lower than normal. The slight rise apparently was enough to knock the bale loose, and since the bale was on a slope, it rolled downhill, through the electric fence, and was lost in the woods.

For me, the loss of the $40 hay bale was too bad, but Phil's safety and the tractor's intactness were much to be thankful for.

For Phil, a bale, unrecoverable in the woods, lost to usefulness, without hope of repair, was just a bit too much.

He went to bed and slept for a few hours.

With scattered showers and constant wind all afternoon, it wasn't a great day to be outside.

Several weeks ago, I was looking up methods of planting sweet potatoes and stumbled across a website of a farm that grows market vegetables using hand power and no tiller. One thing they mentioned is that they plan to start some seedlings every day. When they're ready to transplant, they move them out into well mulched raised beds. I like the idea of just expecting to plant something every day.

Today I planted a flat of greens: about six soil blocks of 13 different varieties. And next time there's a biodynamic leaf day, in about a week, I plan to start another flat.

The boys and I read most of the afternoon. We've been racing through the Elementary Life of Fred math books. Even Abraham gives a belly laugh at times, though only the older two boys actually do the practice problems.

One of the questions today dealt with similes. "Reading is as fun as ____"? Jadon said, "Ice cream!" (Which makes sense; he's my reader.) Isaiah said, "Jelly beans sealed in a tin can that you have to open with your teeth." Translation: it's not my favorite thing to start, but there is usually something worthwhile inside.

Abraham: "Pulling teeth." Abraham's reading is getting better all the time, but clearly he's struggling a bit still.