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Perseverance Must Finish Its Work

In June, I put up 125 bales from the second half of the first cutting. They say make hay while the sun shines, and shine brutally it did. I would have preferred to do the first cutting in late May, but with 6.5 inches of rain, the ground was simply too wet.

When you’re working with sixty-year-old equipment and the grass is 48+ inches high, problems are to be expected, though sometimes one hopes to get by without any…wishing so seems effective on occasion, HA! But not this trip. First, a major clog of grass in the hay mower, then a drive belt came off, then the universal joint broke. For at least 25% of production, the baler failed to knot one of the twine strings. That means getting on and off the tractor 20+ times.

All that sounds pretty awful! True that. But there’s something else going on deserving of notice. You might say I refused to give up. And believe me, the urge was there. One of the good things is that I learned how to re-attach a drive belt and adjust the tension. I also learned how a universal joint is disassembled and reassembled, and what a bushing is. Yet another good thing is that I had the tools and the help to make the repairs. I also already had a hundred bales sold, plus my brother’s help to stack in the barn loft.

The object lesson here, maybe, is that what keeps me going when the going is tough, is gratitude for the resources that I do have, which brings to the fore a determination to make the best use of resources at hand. Another part of the motivation is that perseverance usually pays off more often than not. Sometimes I think a person can give up too easily. It’s all about fighting the good fight, folks!

Caroling McColloch
Chez Nous Farm
cheznousfarm@gmail.com

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