TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS

This adventure, this journey, this heart song has spiraled in many directions in the 5 weeks since we came to South Dakota.

In the beginning we were apprehensive but excited to embark on a new adventure. We just wanted to get a start, a business plan, and a feel for an agricultural way of life.

After spending all of our working years in an urban environment in the Seattle area, we didn't know if we were going to live out a dream or if we were making a mistake. We did know that we had to find the answer to that question. The immediate question was how much of our money and time should we invest this first year? And what should be our priorities?

Ever cautious, Jim felt if he could just tiptoe in and test the waters, he would be most comfortable. He thought it would be best to have a neighboring farmer do the haying on shares, and that way, we could post-pone buying equipment. After all we have a well to dig and a wild life habitat and shelter belt programs that begin this year. That was enough, Jim reasoned.

What we didn't expect was how in love with this land we would be. And love is blind as they say. Jim threw caution to the wind and bought equipment. He paid cash for a used Ford tractor and a rake and baler. His cousin, Frank, offered to let us use an old mower, and there we were, fully equipped to work the hay fields.

We made an agreement with the neighboring farmer to cut and bale 80 acres of prime alfalfa on shares, 50/50. And the other 80 acres of crested wheat grass would be cut, raked and baled by Jim.

All farmers were late getting into the field this year due to an unusual amount of rain. When we got into the fields, the grass and alfalfa were beautiful and lush green. The hay would be excellent but now sun was needed to dry the ground for the tractors and to dry the cut hay.

What happened was we had a few days of sun and equipment problems during those days. Each time there was a breakdown on the old equipment, it meant the work stopped and we had to make a parts run, 40 miles to Mobridge. Often, the part had to be ordered and we had to wait until the next day to pick it up.

So, we had highs and lows, ups and downs. When the weather was warm and dry and the equipment was running well, we were exhilarated. When a part broke down after a few passes down the field, work stopped, and progress delayed once again, we were disappointed and discouraged.

The near daily thunderstorms were another factor with which to contend. The Shumakers, who were going to share crop the alfalfa were delayed by the weather themselves. They have a great deal of land of their own and the fields were often wet. We have a time parameter to cultivate alfalfa. It must be harvested when it is a quarter in flower. After that the quality is in decline.

So, there is and has been anxiety about the rain delaying the ultimate goal of baling high quality

animal forage. The alfalfa is our prime crop. The crested wheat grass is second. I t will bring a lower price at market.

A few days ago, Jim was baling the upper 80 acres in the open Ford tractor, and Shumakers were mowing/swing arm raking the lower 80 acres of alfalfa in their high tech enclosed tractor. What a great feeling. What I wouldn't have given for a camera at that time.

At one point when they aligned, climbed down and talked then went back to their work, I had the blissful feeling that we were on the right track. We would get to harvest on time.

Usually, this euphoric state is interrupted by the next thunder storm. Wind, thunder, lightning, pouring rain, and sometimes hail come in rather suddenly and harshly and our beautiful site up on the bluff with a view for miles affords no shelter from the elements. And, once again, we had a storm.

The delays are discouraging. I know we have no control over the weather, but I'm not so sure about the equipment. Over the years, Jim and I have have a difference of opinion about cost versus quality. Sometimes to save a little money, you sacrifice quality and lose money in lost production and declining quality of harvest.

Also, for a few dollars more, we could buy an enclosed tractor and be able to run more during the dark, (cooler) hours. As it is, even with insect repellent, those nasty little biting gnat dudes are really chewing on Jim's ears, causing them to swell and itch.

So, now you have it, many of the discouraging aspects of this venture.

There are many new really positive developments though, which I will share with you in my next blog.

For tonight, I'm invited over to Mother's house to have shrimp salad with the sisties and brother Bill and the nephews. Maybe we'll sit on the screened in front porch after dinner, just like the old days.

Another secret: Sometimes I like to hog Mother all to myself and just sit on the porch with her and have tea. Am I too selfish or what? I am in fact one of eight siblings, so have had to share her quite a lot. But that is another blog.

I miss my children tonight. Wish I could hug them.

A NEW DAY

We left Mobridge at 8:00 A.M. CST and arrived at the fields in Timber Lake at 8:00 A.M. MST. What a difference a day makes when it comes to weather in these parts.

We were very hopeful that today would be the day to make headway with the haying. The temperature was around 70 degrees, sun shining and winds calm. The tractor was full of fuel and the mower sickel was lubed.

I stood on the dash board of the truck and watched as Jim started the Ford tractor and started mowing rows of grass. The little blue tractor was running beautifully, but it seemed to me the rake was uneven. The arm was raising and lowering and occasionally Jim had to stop and free accumulations that were caught in the blades. It was slow going and he turned around often, looking over his shoulder to monitor the production, which seemed to me to be low.

Finally, my husband gave me the thumbs down sign and then the broken sign, and he began to drive the equipment back up to bluff. He showed me an area where a pin had come out of a socket and the two sickel blade arms that had malfunctioned. Hay was stuck in the points of the cutters. The socket was too big for the pin. Jim removed the pin and one of the long metal cutting arms, and put it in the back of the truck. We would need a part, but this is Sunday, and the parts house is closed. We loaded up all of our portable stuff into the truck, and decided to head for the Little Morreau Park before heading back to Mobridge. There are bathrooms there and picnic tables and of course shade and water, all of the things we don't yet have on the land.

On the way to the dam, Jim spotted a very large snake in the road. He backed up and ran over it several times, thinking it was a rattle snake. He has never done that before. He has quite a bit of respect for living creatures, but out here, rattlers are dangerous and people try to keep their numbers down. It turned out to be a bull snake, which is not venemous. but the deed was done.

On the way back from the park, we saw our neighbor's tractor in their hay field. I was acutely aware of the difference in their equipment and ours. Theirs was much more high tech, and capable of multi tasking, while ours crippled along cutting unevenly, leaving hay laying flat in it's wake.

The tractor operator was Bob Schumaker's son, John, and he was driving a big enclosed rig, with a large Hydro-swing Mower attached.

A Hydro-swing could be thought of as a glorified swather. Like a swather, it has a sickel with a belt and rollers to put the cut grass in winrows, which eliminates the need for raking. The round baler just goes down the winrows and rolls the hay into huge round bales. Of course even the baler must be super sized to handle this work load.

The Hydro-swing has high tech features that are an improvement over swathers and they include a crimper which breaks up the stems to quicken the drying process. And, in addition, this mower has the enormous hydro-swing arm that swings from one side of the tractor to the other when the farmer comes to the end of a row and reverses direction.

The equipment moved along flawlessly, easily blowing the hay into large rows that were about twenty to thirty feet apart. What an eye opener for me. I can truely see why today's farmers feel compelled to purchase this expensive machinery.

We stopped out in the field at Quinn's place to see Jim's cousin, Frank. The mower is the only piece of equipment that was not purchased. It is an one that Frank doesn't use any more, and had lent to us.

Frank was mowing next to Kenny Quinn's farm. He too had a extra large, enclosed tractor and a huge, high tech hydro-swing mower that was making short work of the large fields of hay.

When I say short work, I don't mean that there wasn't a tremendous amount of work to do.I mean to say that this equipment handles large work loads very efficiently. Non-the-less, even with this excellent equipment, Frank, ever the hard worker, had been in the fields since 6:00 A.M. and had not yet stopped. It was now about 12:00 P.M.

When Frank climbed down from the tractor, it was all he could do to walk. He has been putting off knee surgery. He hobbled over to Jim and the two men talked for awhile before we started off for Mobridge again. Each trip we make out to Timber Lake in the truck costs about $15.00 in fuel, so parts problems cost us dearly.

Since this is Sunday, the parts store is closed, so we won't be able to go there until tomorrow morning. So. for today, Jim's plan is to mow the lawn here at the house, and then we will both go to work in Mother's garden.

It's hard not to feel discouraged at times like this. I don't know if any amount of repairs on Frank's old mower will keep it running in a productive fashion, and I don't know if it is wise to purchase a new mower. As it is, we're hoping to make half of what we paid for equipment back with the sale of the hay this year. We don't really need any more expenses. We also still have the well digging coming up. And that's another frustration. The well digger hasn't even called us back yet. We've heard that he is very busy, but really, he should give us some idea when he'll be out.

I hate to end this blog on a bad note. Hopefully, my next post will be more positive.

Addendum: I called Mother and told her to avoid feeling depressed, we needed to go to work in her garden, That way we'd be doing something constructive in our downtime.

So, we worked there planting bush beans and onion sets. Once again, I was a mud pie in the heat and humidity.When Jim announced that it was beer-thirty and set out to Gigg's shop, Yours Truely went into the house to see Mom and sister, Sherry and her two sons, Daniel and David. They travel from their Arizona home every summer to see mother, and to help her.

Sherry was steam cleaning a very dirty area of the carpet with a distressed look on her face. I am grateful that she is there helping Mother with a lot of very tough jobs, and I love my sister, but I burst out laughing as I saw that expression on her face. I guess I could identifty with her feelings of misery, No one enjoys a stinky job, and I was so glad that she had volunteered to do this one. Try to imagine this, Mary Cat, with a muddy face from sweat and garden dirt, cackling at the sight of Sherry laboring over a dog pee-peed rug, with quite a miserable little turned down mouth, Muahahahaha.

I stayed for hours there, alternately gardening and drinking coffee with Mother on the screened in front porch. It was just like the old days when I was growing up. one of my favorite thing to do has always been to just sit out in the cool breeze of the porch drinking coffee and chatting with my Mum.

By the time I left my mother and the house where I grew up, I was feeling much better.

Now, we're ready to face yet another new day, tomorrow, bright and early.