We phoned up some friends to ask them over to dinner, and they countered with an offer to go bail hay! Of course we said yes. Eldest valiantly came with us, but her allergy to basically all things rural - and subsequent wheeziness - meant a trip back into more 'heathful' urban settings.
Youngest however popped an anti-histamine and aside from some hay induced sneezing, worked long and hard.
One tractor died, so we were down to the one that pulled the bailer and the wagon that we loaded behind that:
Tractor, followed by red bailer then followed by wood coloured wagon with three folks stacking hay on it.
Youngest was slinging hay bails on the wagon, and after we filled one load said she didn't want to do it anymore. I countered that the other guys (all quite big, and all guys) had done three loads. She countered by noting that they were all three times her size, so it worked out as even. She had a point.
When we did the math, the biggest guy (age 21 at 210 lbs) was lifting less than a quarter his weight with each bail. Youngest, was lifting almost half hers...bet she slept well last night.
Riding the hay wagon back on bailes we stowed. Very very cool day.
A lot of hard work, and a nice crowd of folks.
plus some half grown chickens, ducks and layers,
and some cows.
Very cool outing, I'd definitely do it again.
7 comments:
being a pedant its bale, not bail.
Somehow the idea of "dinner" vs. "baling" doesn't quite seem to be the equivalent, and I am reminded of Tom Sawyer and the fence . . . but be that as it may, it looks idyllic. And oh, the sweet smell!
Yeah, I wondered about that, but I wasn't at all sure......and I was far too lazy to look it up.
JG, the baling was delightful too, though very hard work......
Very cool. Youngest has good wits, too :). Not sure how much I'd sneeze surrounded by bales. mowing (or cut grass) makes me sneeze, but I didn't experience anything with straw...
Youngest also got back on and did more...she was sore the next day too....straw itself I don't find very sneezy, hay maybe would be more....it's more a question of dust if there were a lot. For me.
My grandfather in Missouri had a very large dairy farm, so when I was a child I loved to stand next to him or sit on his lap when he cut hay with his combine. He had one of those big enclosed models, so it wasn't as dangerous as it sounds.
What great memories you made! The pictures warmed my heart.
Glad you had such lovely memories, it would be a wonderful way to grow up. The farm machinery here wasn't so sophisticated, you could get some arms into these without too much trouble.
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