Bittersweet Acres Farm

Bittersweet Acres began the summer project of baling hay. Patrick is very excited about the quality of hay again this year and it appears that we may have even more than last year. Here are some pictures of the first baling of hay. Special thanks to Pa Rudy and Adam Kahmann!!

Bittersweet Acres was happy to host extension agents from the four regions of the U.S. as  fellows with the USDA Sustainable Ag Research and Education Program and some representatives from the University of Kentucky for a farm visit this morning. We gave a presentation on what we do boarding horses and growing hay at Bittersweet Acres as an example of the horse industry here in Kentucky outside the racing industry. We would like to thank Lee Meyer and Sarah Lovett from the UK College of Agriculture for the invitation to be a part of the program. Below are some pictures from the visit.

Patrick Giving Presentation

Participants During Question and Answer Session

Farm Tour

Enjoying the Horses

We would like to thank Sharon and Krista as well as Robbie and Natalie from Southsider Magazine for the wonderful article that included some nice words about the farm.

http://www.southsidermagazine.com/Articles-c-2011-06-02-97896.113117-For-the-Love-of-Horses.html

Elliot and Aubrey are excited to announce the arrival of their new sister, Evelyn Sarah.  She was born at 2:54 EST.  She weighs 8lbs 7oz and is 21″ long.  Mom and baby are doing great!

Looks like more horses will be coming in time…

Well if you have been out to the farm lately, you will have noticed that we have made a big mess, and have mostly gotten it cleaned up.  After the silo demolition, I was able to dig the trench required to move all our electric service to underground.  It has not been too big a deal, but we have had to get a couple of things signed off on before we could continue on so it has taken longer than expected.

KU is supposed to come this week and change everything over and remove all the overhead lines.

Once that is complete, we will start a couple of building projects in the back.  One will be an equipment shed to get all the machinery inside, and the other is a shop/maintenance building.  Completing these buildings will clean up the areas around the barns significantly as we will be able to get all the equipment out of the lot by the round pen, as well as tear down the small shed behind the house.  It will also make the farm more efficient as we can work when the ewather is bad.

Lastly…I am writing this from my wife’s hospital room.  She is just starting to labor slightly and we expect Evelyn Sarah sometime later today.

With the pending birth of our third child comes much excitment that can only be explained if you’ve experienced it.

I will update after delivery

We have started what will be some ongoing building projects.  Most of the buildings on the farm have seen their better days.  Some that have no use will be torn down and others that are adequate will be remodeled to make them more astheticly pleasing, and more importantly, more functional.

As you have probably heard it said, you can’t build and tear down at the same time, so we have started demolition.  The first to bite the dust were two old silos which have been here since the farm operated as a dairy.  An Amish team from outside Libery, KY have been working to tear one of the silos down to rebuild on another Central Kentucky farm.  The other silo was not worth rebuilding and was simply knocked down.

Following are some pictures of the guys taking the larger of the two silos down.  Definately not for the faint of heart.

The picture on the left is hard to tell, but there is a man sitting on the very top of the dome of the silo. 

Dropping staves

 Here is a link to the demolition of the smaller silo.  Pay no attention to the narration.  The videographer didn’t know if everyone who was watching wanted to know if this group built barns also.  Also the kids in the background were mine, and they were waaaaaay away and the noise scared them which caused the screams you hear at the very end.  They were in no danger and no one was injured.

http://s690.photobucket.com/albums/vv264/pnhigg/?action=view&current=Silo51.flv

Sorry for the lack of recent updates, and the pictures reminding everyone of the winter ice storm. 

The farm has been a very busy place over the past couple weeks.  We have been able to finish up some board fence that has allowed us to remove some wire fencing that was causing problems.  It won’t be painted for a while, but I don’t think the horses will mind for now.

We also have cut and baled the first cutting of hay.  We were able to dodge the rain and get it all in the barn dry.  It is a big relief to get it done, and I really appreciate everyone’s patience with the mess while we were filling the barn.

If nothing changes this week, both silos are supposed to start coming down on Monday 6/8/09.  Once they are gone the process of moving the electric service can start which will then lead to adding an equipment shed and a maintenanceshop.  This is all to make the place more efficient and allow work to be done during inclement weather.  It is my hope that by fall we can start making some significant improvements to both horse barns.

We have a couple new boarders so if you haven’t met them, take the opportunity to say hi.

The delivery date is also closing in quickly for the birth of our third child.  Evelyn Sarah is due July 27 so among other things we are trying to prepare for our upcoming gift delivery.

I will update with some new pictures soon.

Thanks to everyone who is making Bittersweet Acres a success!  We couldn’t do it without you.

There is a lot of excitement this time of year in the Bluegrass.  Keeneland is in full swing, having just polished off the Toyota Bluegrass Stakes, and the Rolex 3 day event is coming to the Horse Park this weekend.  It will be a trial run of sorts for the newly constructed arenas at the park as they continue preperations for the 2010 WEG.

Several current clients have had some early spring success at local shows.  Katie (Ralph), and Mary (Buddy) both brought home several ribbons from their respective classes at the Horse Park in recent weekends.

Michaela (Daisey) and Brooke (Embarr) also secured multiple ribbons at the recent Lakeside Arena show.

We also have some new folks around.  If you see someone you aren’t acquainted with, stop and introduce yourself.

Susan Hamblen along with Bittersweet Acres will be offering a lesson clinic May 9, 2009.  The clinic is a fund raising benefit for Circle of Hope International, and the lessons will be free of charge with all donations being given to Circle of Hope.  The flier has been added to the above post.  Click the thumbnail and the flier will open in a new window.  The fliers have also been posted in each of the barns at the farm.

We hope this finds all of you well and excited about the coming events.

The sun is out, and it is beautiful today.  It shouldn’t be long now, until the grass greens and people are able to begin working their horses more seriously.

The immunization day was a great success, and we’d like to thank Dr. Cook and the fine folks over at Woodford Equine Hospital for all their help.

We have several new boarders at the farm, and would like to encourage all of our “established” clients to introduce themselves to the new boarders.

We do however have a few open stalls remaining, so if anyone is looking, give us a call or drop an email.

For current boarders we will continue to honor the $25 finders fee.  If for some reason, someone is here on your recommendation and your bill has not been credited, please let us know.

The show season is upon us, and both the Kentucky Horse Park and Lakeside Arena in Frankfort have their schedules up for 2009.  Please review those for any events for which you may be interested.  Also please let us know if you are participating in any upcoming shows so you may be recognized.

We encourage each of you to frequent all of the local show venues, and offer your support.

Enjoy the warmth!!!