First, a little farming lesson. Glenn has about 100 acres of hay ground. Every 10-15 years, the hay has to be plowed under and the sod broken up. He plants oats every year for a few years to replenish the soil. Then he replants the ground into grass/alfalfa hay and waits 10 years for the process to start over again. He rotates through all of his hay ground doing this to 20-30 acres at a time. When the field is plowed, up come those pesky rocks. It's difficult for grass to grow on a rock, so you pick the rocks.
This is one of the rocky patches. Thankfully, the whole field doesn't look like this, but there are quite a few rock patches. You would think we were growing rocks, rather than hay. It's too bad there's not a market for rocks. We would be rich.
This is the after picture. It's much better, but there are still rocks. It's difficult for me as a perfectionist to not insist on picking up every rock. I've gotten better at leaving the littler ones behind. Glenn has gotten better at leaving me alone about picking up smaller rocks than he would pick up. Sometimes it looks like you're in an ocean of rocks. It's overwhelming.
Our rock picking crew. They were very good sports about helping. I lectured them on how little they are asked to help on the farm. (Not Glenn, the little people!) We filled the bucket of the tractor three times in an hour. And then we went and did it again the next night. Glenn has high hopes we'll do it every night. We'll see if the "good sports" can hold out that long! Anyone who's dying to experience rock picking for themselves is welcome to join us. Really. I kid you not. I'm generous like that, what can I say?
2 comments:
This totally made me remember the days we picked rock when we were doing our lawn. (I picked up all the little ones, too.)
Brian is an award-winning rock picker! Just ask Glenn!
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