All good things…

Brian HarryMarch 9, 2018Mar 9, 201803/9/18

After more than 23 years at Microsoft, I’ve decided it’s time for me to take a break. Starting March 12th 2018, I’ll be taking a leave of absence for a year. Deciding to do this has been one of the most gut-wrenching decisions of my life. As someone who has largely defined myself by the work I’ve done, it’s incredibly hard to imagine...

Goats up high

Brian HarryFebruary 7, 2018Feb 7, 201802/7/18

Let me start with a little background.  Every year, we have new goats born on the farm - generally in March/April.  Last year, we had about 10 or so.  They live in the field with their moms until breeding season - ~October.  During breeding season, we have to remove the young goats from the adult herd so they aren't accidentally bred - ...

Let’s make some hay!

Brian HarryJune 8, 2017Jun 8, 201706/8/17

Spring is hay season and it puts a significant strain on my managing the balance between work and farm.  For the past several weeks, I've been stealing away every spare minute I can to cut, rake, bale and haul hay.  I've hayed about 75 acres and that yields one heck of a lot of hay.  I'm almost done - just a few dozen more rolls to move ...

Two bulls meet

Brian HarryMay 3, 2017May 3, 201705/3/17

You may have noticed I wasn't very responsive during much of April.  That's because I took an extended "Farmcation" for about 3 weeks.  I just returned to work on Monday and should be a bit more responsive now. I won't bore you with all the details but I wanted to share one thing. Cows are cool animals in many ways.  Sometimes they ...

Cows can be so silly

Brian HarryMarch 30, 2017Mar 30, 201703/30/17

Last week, we had some visitors from Redmond visiting us in North Carolina.  I invited a few of them out to my house for dinner - they were interested in seeing this farm that I talk about from time to time. After we got to my house I herded everyone into my car to drive up to the barn.  As we got to the top of the hill, I could tell ...

One more farm story for this week

Brian HarrySeptember 28, 2016Sep 28, 201609/28/16

Sorry for the back to back farm stories but I was relating the Fire! story to someone the other day and remembered another story I hadn't shared. As a cattle farmer, I go through a lot of hay - about 300,000 lbs per winter.  Spring and late Summer are the seasons for cutting, baling and storing hay.  In the past I've had to buy a lot of hay ...

Fire!

Brian HarrySeptember 26, 2016Sep 26, 201609/26/16

When you have a farm like I do, with a lot of pastures, a lot of fence lines and a lot of trees, you inevitably spend a lot of time clearing dead trees, fallen limbs, etc. from your fences and fields.  It's a never ending job.  Sometimes I collect the wood for firewood (I heat my house with that in the winter).  Sometimes I just throw it ...

Where in the world is Brian?

Brian HarryJuly 29, 2016Jul 29, 201607/29/16

I apologize for being away for so long.  It's been a weird summer.  I was out of the office for almost a month and have spent the last week furiously trying to catch up.  So I've been absent from my blog for a while now.  I'll fill you in on some of the details. Italy This year is my parent's 50th anniversary.  My brother and I (well ...

Is your stomach bigger than your eyes?

Brian HarryDecember 23, 2015Dec 23, 201512/23/15

For the past several months, friends have been bugging me to write another farm post – it’s been quite a while.  The problem is that I haven’t been able to think of anything terribly interesting.  Most farm work does make for a good blog post – chores, feeding, cutting hay, repairing fences, …  Just not great content ...

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Brian HarryAugust 19, 2014Aug 19, 201408/19/14

Well, today was my turn to take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.  This morning I was tagged by both Adam Cogan and Scott Guthrie.  Tempting as it is though, I’m not doing it twice   I don’t know if it’s typical, but Adam challenged me to complete the task within 24 hours.  I spent today thinking about how I would get ...