Brian Harry's Blog

All good things…

March 9, 2018 Mar 9, 2018 03/9/18

Brian Harry

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

February 7, 2018 Feb 7, 2018 02/7/18

Brian Harry

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!

June 8, 2017 Jun 8, 2017 06/8/17

Brian Harry

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

May 3, 2017 May 3, 2017 05/3/17

Brian Harry

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

March 30, 2017 Mar 30, 2017 03/30/17

Brian Harry

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

September 28, 2016 Sep 28, 2016 09/28/16

Brian Harry

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!

September 26, 2016 Sep 26, 2016 09/26/16

Brian Harry

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?

July 29, 2016 Jul 29, 2016 07/29/16

Brian Harry

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?

December 23, 2015 Dec 23, 2015 12/23/15

Brian Harry

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

August 19, 2014 Aug 19, 2014 08/19/14

Brian Harry

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 ...