Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Making Hay

The local farmer has started haying. His hay wagon goes by the house full to the top. I love to watch the process. After cutting and when it's dry, he uses a tedder to put the hay into rows. Then, in one operation, the tractor passes over the rows with a baler and it all goes into the wagon, ready for sale. I used to watch my grandfather haying when I was a kid. He had his team of horses that he used to cut, rake, and pile it into rows. They had tractors, but he did his share of the work with his horses. I remember their names "Maggie" and "Nellie". The hay was picked up by men throwing forkfuls up onto the wagon, drawn by a tractor. After that, it had to be put into the hay mow, again by the forkful. It was hot, sweaty, dirty work.

I walked by the back lot on Sunday. There was a pretty good breeze. Looking down on the yet to be cut field, the wind blowing waves over the hay, you could imagine that you were looking at a green beach with the tide coming in.
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5 comments:

Linda said...

I bet that would have made a great picture if you could have caught that field in the right light.

Sweet Virginia Breeze said...

Ahh - Hay. When I was younger we had the square bales like in your picture. Dad would pack them in the barn and we would build tunnels through the bales. It's a miracle we weren't bitten by a snake or crushed by falling bales. Now everyone makes the big round bales .

SquirrelQueen said...

What a wonderful memory. I too remember seeing the men working to load the hay bales on a truck, and the smell of the cut hay.

We live in wheat country so right now I get to see the green sea and the tide coming in also. Doesn't it just make you feel sorry for folks who live in the city and never experience such pleasures?

Have a really great day,
SQ

Dee said...

Linda, I wish I had the skill to capture what I see in a photo. I'm going to leave that to you who seems to have that ability. I have a point and shoot,(Canan Powershot), and a Sony bridge camera. Ansel Adams I am not.

Sweet Virginia and SQ, We of a certain age have sweet memories of haying time. I know I'm probably much older than you and my memories are of a time past that I treasure.

SquirrelQueen said...

Hi Dee,
I saw you had signed up for the b&w photo challenge over at Lynn's, that is great. Looking forward to more post and photos.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Judy