Lined up in a row in a steady rain, these hay wagons, await their summer work details. Having grown up as a city boy, there were lots nuances I had to become familiar with out here in the country. Hay season for one. Around these parts, for example, I've noticed that farmers usually have a two hay crop season--- late June and then again in the early fall. To get the hay crop cut, kicked, raked and baled without it being ruined by the impeding rain can keep farmers sweating bullets and constantly looking skyward. It's hard work. I admire these guys and gals running their rigs back and forth across the fields of gold. Me? I don't thick I was cut out for it. Heck, growing up, a piece of straw stuck in my white t-shirt would drive me crazy all day!
Friday, April 15, 2011
Hay Wagons
Lined up in a row in a steady rain, these hay wagons, await their summer work details. Having grown up as a city boy, there were lots nuances I had to become familiar with out here in the country. Hay season for one. Around these parts, for example, I've noticed that farmers usually have a two hay crop season--- late June and then again in the early fall. To get the hay crop cut, kicked, raked and baled without it being ruined by the impeding rain can keep farmers sweating bullets and constantly looking skyward. It's hard work. I admire these guys and gals running their rigs back and forth across the fields of gold. Me? I don't thick I was cut out for it. Heck, growing up, a piece of straw stuck in my white t-shirt would drive me crazy all day!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Whatever the crop, farmers work hard harvesting it. This shot has an autumnal feel to me. Where are the spring flowers???
ReplyDeleteInteresting composition and colors.
ReplyDeleteWe usually have two crops here too. And we have a farmer friend who spends a lot of time fretting about the weather.
ReplyDeleteIf my occupation depended on the vagaries of weather, I'd have been put in a strait jacket long ago :)
ReplyDeleteI remember my father hating hay cutting season. It made him sneeze relentlessly.
ReplyDeleteI love the smell of fresh cut alfalfa. But then I'm 50 percent peasant.
ReplyDeleteYou're absolute correct about the hard work; perhaps that's one of the many reasons for the decline of the family farm. I know lots of other economic considerations are involved, but i wish that there were more working small family-owned farms left. Your hay wagon brought back many fond memories of farm visits.
ReplyDeleteA nice shot. I have no idea about working with hay, but I'm sure it's not easy.
ReplyDeleteA great post Birdman. I love the photograph and the narrative.
ReplyDeleteNot bad for a "city boy" as you say.
Have a great weekend.
Costas
I was grown up in a farm in the middle of a jungle. I visit my parents farm once a year to refresh my mind and for clean air.
ReplyDeleteCruise Picture
A nice haywagon. Around here it is usually rolled and moved with a tractor.
ReplyDeleteColorful shot!
ReplyDeleteI like that square of red against that yellowish grass!
ReplyDeleteWow, fancy wagons for hay. Here, in Ohio, they stack it on flatbeds and hope there is no spillage. The idea is to tie it down with bailing string and hope for the best.
ReplyDelete