Archive for July 11th, 2013
Horse Power
Yesterday, I was sitting in our kitchen, with Delilah at my feet, sprawled out on the cool of the tile, when I heard a new sound coming up the driveway. It was our neighbor from the CSA farm, arriving with a team of horses to cut hay. What a wonderful sight to see. I grabbed my camera and followed them down to the pasture, calling Cyndie on my cell phone as I walked. I knew she would really love to see this, and how much she wanted to learn how to drive his team of horses. She was over an hour away, but I could hear in her voice how interested she was in getting home as quickly as possible.
Delilah and I wandered the hills around the field, watching the action. My favorite part was how quiet the process is. The cutter is a sickle bar, and is powered by the forward motion of the rig being pulled by the horses. It was a truly bucolic scene.
Cyndie made it home just in time to get out and learn some details of the process, and watch him make the last few passes. Then, he gave her chance to do the driving, luckily, without needing to navigate a row or position the cutting blade. She’s a pretty quick study, and soon was directing them to make a couple of turns and urging them up the hill. One more skill that she fearlessly adds to her already amazing repertoire.
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