Home » Plants & Animals » Simple Homesteading » From Disaster to Divine in a Hayfield

From Disaster to Divine in a Hayfield

© Gloria Morris

Simple living and frugality go hand-in-hand. That means that throwing money at problems does generally not solve them. Indeed, sometimes the solutions we find require work, but have deeper rewards than if we had spent a lot of money.

We have about 12 acres of alfalfa in our front field. That alfalfa is in decline, as a stand of alfalfa does not last forever. It was time to re-work it into its future role as a pasture. I decided that I wanted to over-seed the alfalfa with grasses and forbs. In asking around, I was given the name of farmer who will rent out a no-till grass drill from New Zealand, which is supposed to make the job of over-seeding a field a breeze. I called him and was told that it would cost $10 per acre to rent the drill, and that he could have the drill to me within a couple of days. $120 to plant the field on top of the cost of the grass seed is not a terrible price, I guess. I was willing to pay because this was the planting method that everyone said I needed to use.

Many people will tell you horror stories about "custom farming" or having someone come to your farm with equipment to do something for hire. Hay crops have been ruined because the custom baler did not show up at the right stage. Usually the custom farmer also farms his own farm and he looks after himself first. Though I have heard many horror stories about custom farming, I trustingly bought the 120 pounds of grass seed, feeling assured that in two days I would have the grass planted using this drill, well before the expected rains. It did not quite happen that way.

The farmer had to go pick up his drill at a location about two hours away, presumably from someone to whom he had rented it. He did not go get the drill when he said he would, but delayed for several days. Finally, he brought the drill back home, but I still could not have it because he needed to plant grass at his farm. And I could not have the drill the following day, because he needed to plant grass on his little farm. Nor could I have the drill the next day, because he had other business to attend to. But, he said, "I am not trying to blow you off or anything." Indeed.

The copyright of the article From Disaster to Divine in a Hayfield in Simple Homesteading is owned by Gloria Morris. Permission to republish From Disaster to Divine in a Hayfield in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.