The Smell of Money

Ever wonder what that sickening sweet smell is when you drive by a farm? That's the smell of silage - fermenting forage (aka grass) used as a feed additive in the winter. Hay apparently gets a bit boring and dry so silage is added into their diet for a bit of variety. OK, and important milk-producing nutrients too.

Or...as some farmers will tell you...it is the smell of money.

Honestly, I wish money smelled better, as it is probably my least favorite smell on the farm. The Farmer is well aware of this, and I cringe at the thought of being caught downwind from the silo on certain days. But it is the smell of money, so says The Farmer, so I live with it. I only whine a little bit.

After my last post two friends wanted to know what was silage. With the help of The Farmer (everyone say "hi" to The Farmer!), here's the scoop...

Silage is the fermentation of forages in an oxygen-free environment. Common forages are your basic pasture grasses, corn, and barley. The forages are processed with a forage chopper, which reduces the crop to small pieces and then is compacted in a bunker silo.

This is the silo on day one.

Once the silo is full, the silage is covered with a plastic tarp (oxygen barrier). The compaction and tarp create an oxygen-free environment. With the aid of bacteria which is infused into the crop during harvest (Brunette Comment #1: note the yellow/green tank, which holds the bacteria and water mixture, attached to the chopper in the first photo), the forages are allowed to ferment over several months. Since silage is harvested at a higher moisture level than hay, the oxygen-free environment also keeps the crop from molding. 

Brunette Comment #2: see this previous post on tarping silage

Silage is normally fed to the cows during the winter months along with alfalfa hay as part of their total nutrient ration.

Brunette Comment #3: in short, silage is sauerkraut candy for cows...and cows love sauerkraut candy

From The Tractor Seat

One of The Farmer's favorite things about farming is driving his tractor. Besides the obvious boys-and-their-toys reason for enjoying the driving in circles the tractor brings him, the tractor seat provides a time to think, imagine, and plan. Often after a day of tractor driving, dinner includes a conversation that begins, "So as I was driving, I had a thought..."

Driving tractor also provides The Farmer scenery that most of us never see, or rarely appreciate. If those dinner conversations don't begin with a plan devised from the tractor seat, they frequently begin with commentary about what he saw during the day. And to the locals...The Farmer has said on more than one occasion that the neighbors have no secrets with him around. You are forewarned.

As silage season drew to a close two weeks ago, The Farmer took his camera along for the ride to provide a glimpse into his life on the tractor seat.

Enjoy the view...

During the mornings of silage, The Farmer cuts the grass with a large mower. Don't we all wish we had a mower this big?

After mowing, The Farmer comes back over each neat and tidy row of cut grass with the forage chopper. Here you can see the forage chopper and silage wagon, as seen when The Farmer looks backwards while chopping silage (yes, he was driving, looking backwards, and taking photos). The grass is chopped from a size of 2-3 feet to 1/2 inch pieces, then shot through the red arm-thingy (technical term of The Brunette) into the wagon towed behind his tractor.

And the view looking forward (though I am amazed at how much The Farmer is glancing backwards while driving tractor...then again, he is driving a mere quarter of a mile per hour)...

As you can see, The Farmer has a ways to go to finish this field. He also knows how to drive in straight lines and make right angles with his tractor. I'm impressed.

The Farmer has two silage wagons, allowing for a continuous flow of silage to be chopped and then delivered to the silo. OK, almost continuous...I often get a lot of 5-6 minute phone calls during silage as The Farmer waits for the empty wagon.

Here comes the second wagon.

The hand-off.

Often The Farmer sees wildlife from the tractor seat. Sometimes that wildlife is a bald eagle...just hangin' out. 

These guys aren't quite as majestic. These ravens are searching for mice.

Bambi!

She didn't leave the field because she had a fawn in the brush she was protecting. So more accurately...Bambi's mom!

And these gals aren't quite wildlife, but they sure are cute.

When The Farmer comes in for lunch, he drives past the silo. The dozer is pushing and compacting the silage to begin the fermentation process.

The silo as seen from the field.

And as seen from a farther-out field. And that hillside? That's Oregon.

And the "I can see Oregon from my front yard" is even more spectacular of a statement when a ship goes by.

This was one of the naval ships that was a part of the Rose Festival fleet.

This is a bulk freighter headed upriver. The green doors are the cargo hatches.

This is a container ship headed downriver. 

And an oil tanker. And yes, these all went by in a single afternoon.

And finally, it was time for the last wagon to leave the field. 

And this is The Farmer taking one more glance before departing. 

The day - and silage season - is done.

The Important Page

Reading the comics with The Farmer

Pool, Anyone?

The Herdsman bought The Farmer a book for Father's Day last week.

I have a feeling The Herdsman is going to be a reader, as this was The Farmer's birthday present last month:

But since The Hredsman loves The Farmer so much he received another present...new pool cues!

Because, yes, we have a pool room/man cave.

What? This doesn't look like a pool room? 

It is! 

Two years ago.

But after a winter of more construction - aka Phase Two of our massive overhaul of The Jungle House - we have a new pool room, changing room, garage, and hobby room in the space that is our garage/shop outbuilding. Oh, and a new living room - though that is not in the garage (phew!).

When we originally looked at The Jungle House the garage had three shop spaces in addition to the garage bays. One of the previous owners was a cabinet maker and so the space was large. And yes, I said three shops.

The shop space above was directly behind the main garage bays and closest to the house. You'll notice the open door in the above photo; the blue siding is the house as seen through the breezeway.

We decided to turn this space into the pool room and changing room (more on that later) because The Jungle House came with this:

And while we loved the space (sans the chandelier that I think was stolen from a 1970s pizza parlor), we wanted to use it for our living room. And a living room with a pool table in the middle of it? That looks like this:

That set-up wasn't going to last too long (though in our case it did last one month shy of two years).

So we marked out the shop space...

Framed out the new walls...

Added a set of French doors to the back yard (thank you to my aunt and uncle for donating to this cause!)...

And then we stopped.

For a year. We had other things to do.

Consider that Phase One Point Five...leading up to Phase Two this winter.

And Phase Two was important as I wanted a living room before The Herdsman (previously known as Plus One) arrived. Few people women want a living room that looks like this:

But to get that dang pool table out of my living room, we had to create a place to put that pool table. 

So an extra door was closed off.

Insulation and plywood were added to the framed-in wall between the new pool room and changing room.

The ceiling was dropped, lights were added.

And everything got a coat of paint.

OK, a couple coats of paint.

And then, after flooring was laid, it was moving day!

We had to go through these doors...

Down two steps and down the "back porch"...

And voila! I have a living room! (Don't worry...the carpet was removed too...)

And the pool table has a new home!

And The Farmer has a place to play! Or build cabinets and store tools, in this case...

And hold The Herdsman, it seems...

He'll learn later you aren't supposed to sit on the table. We let it pass this one time.