Not everyone knows the difference between straw and hay. I certainly didn't when I first arrived at Howell Farm. Here's the simple version: Hay is tall grass grown to feed livestock. Straw is the stalk leftover from the harvest of grain crops such as wheat or oats. Straw is often used for animal bedding, and is very absorbent.

The picture above is oat straw, drying in windrows after the oat harvest.

Next week: What's a windrow?

Since July 15, plentiful rainfall has helped Howell Farm's crop of field corn grow tall and green. The prospects of the crop are looking even better now that deer fencing has been installed.

In the summer, Sirius, the dog star, rises and sets with the sun. At least approximately.

The ancient Romans believed this bright star -- the brightest in the night sky -- was the cause of the season's high temperatures. Good guess, but wrong. Still, that's where we get the phrase "the dog days of summer."

In ancient Rome, the dog days were said to linger from July 24 to August 24, when the sun and Sirius rose and set in tandem.  Today, the constellations are not in exactly the same place in the sky, due to the "precession of the equinoxes," so the timing has changed a little.

Growing up, I always assumed "dog days" were days when it was so hot that all dogs could do was lie around in the shade, trying to stay cool. Cats, too.

This morning, Farmer Jeremy trimmed the hooves of the sheep flock, with the exception of two rebels, who went missing from the pasture until the trimming was complete.

It's not exactly farming news, but a big tree falling down is always worth a sentence or two. During a fast-moving storm last night, an old Norway maple fell over not far from the historic John Phillips farmhouse. At first, lightening was suspected, but upon further inspection it appears the tree was rotted with age and fell over in the wind and rain.

According to Farmer Pete, who was at the farm yesterday before, during, and after the storm, Dry Run Creek transformed from completely dry to a rushing torrent of water in less than an hour.

Farmer Jeremy and Farmer Ian devoted some of their rainy morning to putting two horseshoes on the front feet of Chester the draft horse.

Chester is a wonderful worker, but he has a reputation for being the most difficult horse on their farm to shoe. He doesn’t like people touching his feet.

According to Farmer Jeremy, the job of carefully shoeing Chester can sometimes take three hours for just two shoes. But on this morning, he and Ian were finished within an hour and a half, which is probably record time.

What made the difference? So far, the farmers can only speculate. For one, Jeremy and Ian took Chester to a different part of the barn, onto the new concrete threshing floor. The area here is much more open than where the horse stalls are, and the open doors practically make it feel like you’re standing outside. Was it the open space that put Chester at ease? Or was it the solid concrete footing underneath? Or was it the scenic views? Or maybe he liked the rain?

Through the years I’ve heard from people who know horses well that sometimes just a change of scenery can make a big difference. Horses are prey animals, and their memory of a scary experience can be long and deep. Perhaps Chester once had a bad experience while being shoed in a confined space, and still stresses about it.

What can make horsemanship so challenging is that every horse has its own personality and a set of life experiences that influence its behavior. It’s not nearly so complicated with a tractor, but then again, perhaps not so interesting.

As the rain pours down this Friday morning – one of several deluges we’ve seen on the farm in the past two weeks – July’s concerns about drought seem far away. With all the plants and crops having the opportunity to take a good long drink, most everything on the farm is looking greener and healthier.

According to the New Jersey state climatologist’s latest report, July 2012 was a hot one, the fifth hottest on record. It was also a dryer than average month, but not dramatically so. Precipitation levels were .8 inches below average.

July felt like a tale of two months. The first half of the month was extremely hot and bone dry, but the second half of the month brought more moderate temperatures and a lot more rain. So far, early August continues on with moderate temperatures and precipitation.