Doin’ Hay!

Old sweatpants, plaid shirts, gloves and work boots packed away...hay season is over and the farmer’s tan is (almost) gone!  I am feeling colder temperatures this September weekend and think how nice it would be if we could do hay in this type of weather...however, in June and July when we completed first cut, temperatures hit a humid 35 plus degrees and you know what that means...it’s baling season. 

As those last few round bales are brought in from the field I am reminded of why I like round bales so much more than square bales.  Of course, we do the square bales for me so I can lift them and feed the horses, but still, as a friend helping us chimed in, “we do just enough to remind us why we don’t like to do square bales!” We were lucky to have this friend from Nova Scotia, who was conveniently driving through Ontario, come and help out.  He called to say he was near the farm and thought he would stop in to see the place and say hello and I laughed and said, “Well we would love to see you and I have some extra work clothes!”  There are only so many days of decent hay weather and well this day we had to “make hay while the sun shines.”      

Have you ever been told to “make hay while the sun shines” even if you are not a farmer?  I know what some of you are thinking, but no I do not mean it the same way country singer Steven Lee Olsen implies.  If you make hay while the sun shines, it means that you take advantage of the chance to do something while conditions are good.  In other words, you make good use of your time or make the most of an opportunity while you have the chance.  This can be used in many contexts, but farmers really do need to hold true to this advice. 

Hay is a lot of work, but the rewards are well worth it.  The picky eaters like goats and horses that sometimes trample hay and then ignore it, (as if it is worth pennies) are best fed square bales because I can dole it out a few flakes at a time.  Without it, many animals wouldn’t have anything to eat and I would have to get a gym membership.  Who needs a gym membership when you have 1000 square bales to lift (twice!)?  For all you friends out there worried about your weight, just come and help do some hay next year and I assure you that you will tone up! Not that you need to...  The only problem here is that many of our friends are farmers and are doing their own hay at the same time, except they are way more classy than us and have air conditioned tractors with computers and radios. 

It is nice to know we have friends from all over Canada that will stop by to visit us.  I am certain not all would help us until 10:00p.m. hauling square bales, like Nicholas did, but we were extremely grateful for those extra hands!  Second cut is done already, but next year will come too soon.....any takers?  If you agree to help out, just remember, invariably, it’s miserably hot whenever it’s time to bale and while your other friends are bunkered down in a nice, air conditioned house during the sultry afternoon, you will be in the heat lifting hay bales in long sleeves and secretly wishing you were naked in a cold rain storm instead of scratching invasive hay out of places you didn’t think possible!  On the plus side, you will get an excellent neck and arm tan. 

“Sorry, we can’t come to dinner because we are doing hay” is an excuse I can only use this time of year.  I have had to turn down invites because we really do need to get those bales in before dew and rain sets in.  If the weather forecast says rain is coming it rarely does and when the weather forecast says the sky will be clear, it rains of course, so we will do what it takes to make sure it’s all collected and covered.  After all, happiness is a barn filled with a winter’s supply of hay!