Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Makin' hay

Clarence and I both had grandparents who were farmers. My Gramps retired from farming when I was in early elementary school, but I remember "helping" with hay at least once. I think I was riding on the wagon as the hay was being stacked. Big helper, me. It was fun, though.

Clarence remembers, with fondness, going to his grandpa's farm every summer to help with the hay. He's been missing the experience the last few years and kept saying he was going to ask one of the neighbors if he could help when they put up their hay.

We only have a couple of acres but the neighbors behind our property both have several acres. One uses her land to pasture her horses, the one beyond her lets his friend Carl grow hay.

As we were eating dinner last night, we were talking about the rain that was predicted for today. Clarence had seen Carl out with the tractor and wagon, baling the hay.



Clarence walked over after dinner and Carl was glad for the extra hands. His wife was already helping but they were able to go faster with another helper.

(If I enlarge this photo, I can see Clarence, wearing a red hat, to the left of the horse. Julianne shot the pics for me and was afraid to walk into the field with the horses.)



They filled this wagon twice, and a utility trailer as well. They were able to finish the field before the dew could make the hay wet again, and before today's constant rainfall could ruin it.

Clarence really enjoyed himself! He was pretty tired by bedtime but I'm pretty sure he'll go over again the next time he sees Carl baling.
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6 comments:

  1. wow, I guess I haven;t looked at your blog for a while! Congrats to Allison and Julianne for their awards!!! YAYYY!!!! I like really non-so-subtle hints too :) I think the girls' gradens are gonna be super cute! They're so talented at so many things! sheesh! I love that Uncle Clarence missed baling hay and just went and helped those people. It's so Uncle Clarence. Hope you are all having a great week! I love you!!! xoxoxoxoxoxo ~V

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  2. I remember haying at my granpas farm too! It always smelled so good and he always hired the cutest church boys to help, lol! Julianne got a great shot of the horse:>)

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  3. We helped our friends bale hay one year. I hope we were a help. I remember pulling the bale up onto the wagon and stacking it. Then into the barn. It was hard work but fun with our best friends. I was probably about 12 at the time.

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  4. I love haying time! The farms all around us are being hayed now too...first cutting. The smell is divine. I really love your blog!

    annie:)

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  5. We get our hay from a great local guy, but we would love to hay a field of our own!

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  6. Haying is the ONLY thing I miss from living on a dairy farm! Nobody hays near us now -- it's sad........

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Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with me!