One of the most basic values of being a homesteader is that we prefer to support local farmers like us and local businesses. One of the other basics is that for the most part we live by the old fashioned rules of handshake agreements, and integrity in someone sticking to their word. These things are what set us apart as homesteaders, things that make us a little different than much of the rest of the world.
Something else that we have really been blessed with are long term relationships. We’ve been in our homestead for over 18 years and have been working with the same local folks for most of those years. We have certainly created our community, our tribe. But what happens when a member of that community lets you down? If they don’t stick to their word or their handshake agreement? When they cause what seem to be unnecessary homestead struggles? Here’s how we handled a recent situation…..
As most of you know, we keep a variety of hay eating farm animals here at One Ash including cows, goats, sheep and horses. Yes, we have some great pasture for them to graze on, but that pasture turns brown this time of year and loses it’s protein. Huge 1000 lb.+ round bales of coastal bermuda hay become a necessity. We have a couple of local farmers that we buy those round bales of hay from. We have bought hay from these two farmers for the majority of those 18+ years. The relationship has always worked perfectly- we contact them in early fall and let them know how many bales we’ll need for the winter season. We get a few at that time, sort of like an unspoken down payment, and they hold back the remaining bales that we’ll need for the rest of the winter season. We then either pick up or they deliver (our preference as we have aged a bit!) those remaining bales throughout the winter months.
Doesn’t that all sound like it works out terrifically? It definitely does…..until one of those local hay farmers let us down.
A couple of days ago Mr. One Ash called up that delivery farmer to let him know we were ready for the remaining 10 round bales he had agreed to hold back for us. The response? The farmer doesn’t have any more hay, and doesn’t have our 10 round bales. WHAT?!!!!! We have animals to feed!!!!! How will we get the needed hay? We hadn’t had anyone else hold back hay for us- we were counting on this farmer to keep his word. Remember, this is a farmer we have done business with, in this exact way, for going on 2 decades! And the big kicker is that this is the farmer that delivered the bales to us. Now what?!!! To pick up from our secondary farmer we drive about 20 miles each way, and load them one at a time in the back of the truck. Then we have to drive home and manually push those 1000 lb.+ bales out of the back of the truck. We’ve done this in the past, but not for several years. And Mr. One Ash and I aren’t as fit as we used to be…..how were we going to get them out of the truck bed? Our old 1958 Ford 601 WorkMaster Tractor can move bales but can’t lift them out of a truck bed. For a few minutes this really had us down, it seemed like an impossible situation and we were not going to have a solution.
But…..we had to get past the aggravation of this and figure out how we were going to feed our animals! Life on the homestead is always filled with challenges and this one was no different. We had to gather our thoughts, say a prayer, and draw up that determination that all of us homesteaders know so well. We don’t give up!
With rain in the near forecast we had to act quickly. Fortunately we have a tribe!!!! And Praise the Lord for our dear friends who have a flat bed trailer we could borrow. We made the trip to their farm, hooked up the trailer, and made a couple of trips back and forth to that secondary hay farmer. Fortunately that farmer had plenty of hay and we were able to make two trips and bring home 8 bales this time around. Rolling the bales off the flat bed (without us straining our backs) required some additional thought, a large strap, good team work, and some perfect leverage- who knew we would use those old physics lessons from school on the farm! But it worked! We got all 8 bales onto the ground and neither of us got hurt! The tractor then took over and moved the bales into position for storage. This secondary farmer is holding a few more bales back for us to pick up next month. Yes, another handshake agreement, but we still have faith in our local folks, despite the disappointment from the first farmer.
As for future hay needs- we will probably invest in our own trailer. Until then our dear friends will let us borrow theirs, and we will find plenty of ways to barter for the use of that trailer, because bartering is the right thing to do. And we’ll look around for an additional local hay farmer, just in case.
The moral of our story is this- don’t lose faith and don’t lose trust in your local folks! Yes, some may make a mistake, may disappoint you, or make things a little more challenging for you. But in the end your community, your tribe, will pull through. So hold on tight to those who support and help you. Make sure you help them back and keep it all equitable. And don’t let the difficulties of homesteading get you down. Stay determined, work together, and don’t give up! This homesteading life is worth it all!
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