It was just a mere seven months ago that we torched our pasture...

It made me happy and sad at the same time. Strange, I know, but our new found love of the wildflowers caused me to wonder if they would come back and I was a bit apprehensive about the whole thing.

It was necessary as we were trying to wipe out a tenacious weed that had become established over years of overgrazing.

So with mixed feelings I watched the pasture go up in flames.

This picture amuses me as you can see my clothesline silhouetted in front of the fire.

So the pasture burned...and we were left with scorched earth...makes sense.

The plan was to burn the pasture and then spray an herbicide in June to finish off the weed that had taken the place of the wanted native grasses.

In no time the pasture greened up and the wildflowers returned. I need not have worried.

But with the abscence of the Sericea, the weed that had taken over the pasture, we suddenly noticed the presence of the desirable grasses.

The Big Bluestem, the Little Bluestem, Indian Grass, and Switchgrass were now in abundance.

Big Bluestem (also called Turkey Foot)

These by the way are the Big Four in grasses. The bison and deer have fed on these grasses for centuries and they were the more pervasive grasses of the Tall Grass Prairie that extended from northern Oklahoma up to Minnesota.Indian Grass  

I was now checking out books from the library on the Tall Grass Prairie. I was absolutely taken with the beauty of these grasses. And the sound of these six foot tall grasses in the breeze is simply mesmerizing...a swiiishsh swiishsh swiishsh...so peaceful and yet a bit unnerving. I had read in one book that there are documented cases of pioneer women losing their minds due to the constant noise of the grasses. 

Tim purchased a used swather and cut the grass in early September.  Now it just needed to be baled. It rained and rained off and on for several weeks preventing our field from being cut for longer than we had wanted. 

But the day finally came that our neighbor was able to come over with his round baler and bale our hay. 

Yes, we're pretty simple and took great delight in seeing our whole "hay plan" come to complete fruition.

The children had fun asking Tim to set them upon the bales and then sliding off of them.

It was strange seeing the pasture look so...short...as if it had been mowed. The bales were sorta randomly placed and oddly looked to me like giant-sized shredded wheat cereal.

After the children played among the bales and we all walked the pasture, we headed back up to the house to let our neighbor finish baling the hay.

I know Tim was pleased. I was too.

So it is now an official hay meadow and we are now in the business of selling hay.

Anybody out there wanna buy some hay? I'll give you the blogger discount...really!

Sorry it's been awhile since the last post.

Thanks to all you for stopping by and commenting or even just stopping by for a glance.

I appreciate you guys. I appreciate your words of kindness and encouragement. You're really the best and thanks...thanks for being here.

Love and blessings, Julie