A**less Chaps Have Returned!

Now the fascination may have come from reading too many Little House books, but haying season really is something to behold. You watch a field go from lush green grass to rich dry hay in a matter of days. You watch it be cut, tedded, raked, baled, and stored. It is a process, but one that allows you to see progress before your eyes. 

The Farmer started with a single bale being put into the calf barn last week. By the end he will have 4,000 bales stored in every crevice of his barns...all a product of his (and the crew's) hard work. 

Now that is a sense of accomplishment!

As the first load from the field came in last week it is the start of a tough evening of unloading this monstrous pile from the bale wagon to the barn.

While a number of things are automated on the farm (including milking cows, in case you are wondering...and yes, The Farmer still gets that question with frequency), "putting in hay" is not. The bale wagon delivers the bales in a nice tall stack, reminiscent of a huge Jenga game. 

Our job is to move these bales into one of the buildings.

One by one.

And to do this job, my favorite outfit of the year comes out of storage. Yes, my (girl)friends, the a**less chaps have returned!

Be still my heart.

The smiles that come with them ain't so bad, either. His smile is one of the things I love most about The Farmer.

OK, enough a**less chap photos (for now). There's a large game of reverse Jenga that must be played.

While I did help bring bales into the barn (through the door on the left), my job (fun!) also included pulling down bales from on high, using whatever means necessary. This often meant I got to climb atop lower bales and use a pitchfork to topple them from above. You can also pull loose bales from the middle of the pile, hopefully dislodging that bale along with a number of others around it. Amazingly, sometimes you'll pull down a whole section with one strategic bale choice, and other times that single bale just pops out without taking any of its neighbors with it. 

I should be really good at Jenga by the end of haying.

This photo seems appropriate to end on. It's my favorite view.