It was a tough year for harvesting hay – a lot of watching and waiting to time it right.

We make two kinds of hay bales here at the farm: round bales that you often see wrapped in white plastic (they look like 600 lb marshmallows); and square bales, which are actually rectangular and what most people think of when they think of a hay bale.

Typically, the round bales are lesser quality hay because they’re usually made from the first cutting when the grass is coarse. These are fed to the beef cattle, donkeys, sheep and goats during the winter. We make square bales from first cut hay for mulch and because it’s easier to handle for feeding in the barn. But it’s the second cut square bales that are most prized. It’s softer, finer and more full of nutrients and protein than first cut. We feed it to the dairy cows that need it to produce milk all winter.

From the start of winter in November to when the grass grows again in the pastures in late May, we need about 1,000 second cut square bales, 600 first cut square bales, and 400 round bales. Getting enough hay is a big deal. It’s expensive to buy elsewhere, if you can even find it.

To make square bales you need three days of warm, dry weather. One day to cut the hay, a day to turn or ted it to dry properly, and then a third to bale and stack it in the barn. If you bale and put wet hey in the barn, it could spontaneously combust and cause a horrible fire.

So, we watched the weather. We listened to forecasts, consulted radar, and studied clouds. Literally. There were very few stretches of three days of fine weather this summer. When we got a window we put everything aside and made hay.

The verse above is about diligence and acting on your faith instead of waiting for everything to line up perfectly. How often do we delay and procrastinate waiting for the ideal window for action? I think what God is telling us here is we need to stop holding a wet finger to the wind to see if the time is right, and instead we need to act. Is there something you think you should be doing or something you think God wants you to do? Will ideal or even favorable conditions ever come along? Maybe now is the right time to plant and reap.

God bless you!

Neil