Broad leaved plants in the hay
Phil mowed for an hour early this morning. I then spent almost two hours spreading all the hay that has been cut so far. We have just (4.30pm) bought in the hay that was cut on Monday. There is a lot of Cat’s Ear (Hypochaeris radicata) and other broad leaved plants in part of this section of hay. The broad leaved plants seem to be slower to dry then the grass. However, the plants in this section have if anything slightly over dried, and crumble if roughly handled. Making hay by hand allows you to be gentler then when using a machine, meaning we can minimise losses from “leaf shatter”.
We are bringing in the hay by loading it into dumpy sacks and dragging it along. Simple but effective, and luckily the barn is not too far away. We are in the process of making a bicycle wheeled handcart, and it will be interesting to see how it compares. It should be easier to pull (although the dumpy sacks slide easily) and hopefully easier to load.
Later this evening, we will bring in the hay cut on Tuesday and row up this mornings mowing and the “Stackpole” hay.
Carting hay to the barn (in the background) using a dumpy sack
I too am using the ‘dumpy bag transportation method’. Interested to know your design for the hand cart. Not sure how to make axle for bike wheels!
Alex
Sent from my iPhone
Hi Alex,
A report on progress on the hand cart so far can be seen on the Dyfed Permaculture Farm Trust website. To attach the bicycle wheels, we will be using bits of angle iron with slots cut into them attached to the frame, two per wheel. This will allow us to mount the wheels in the same way as between the forks on a bicycle. It is hard to describe with words – when we find time to attach the angle iron and wheels I will post a couple of pictures.
Our handcart is made out of ash poles harvested from the Trust woods. I have also come across quite comprehensive plans for a cart constructed out of sawn timber at http://www.mercurypoisoningproject.org/malawi
Hope that helps!
Michelle