Oh Hay There

Today was hay day!! For those of you unfamiliar to hay baling, let me just fill you in on this long process. First the hay field is cut = day one. Then the hay is basically thrown around the field so the layers are thin enough to dry out = day two. Next the hay is raked into rows and if you are really lucky you can bale the hay and cover the round hay bales in one day = day three. If unlucky you can finish on day four. Here at yesteryear Acres I usually only participate on the last day. I always get the LOVELY job of sliding the plastic covers on the hay bales to protect them from the elements. This requires me to unroll the cover, rip the cover off the roll, open it up and prepare it for the hay bale, and then wait. I have to wait until the tractor goes ALLLLL the way down the field, spear the hay bale PERFECTLY in the center, bring the hay bale all the way to its final destination, and then lowered enough for us to pull the covering on. So as you can see I have a lot of downtime in between hay bales. Downtime where I am all alone with a roll of basically plastic bags. And when you have 32.5 bales of hay.. you MIGHT go a little crazy by the end. My brother and I got the privilege to do the last step of the hay process all by ourselves this year! My Dad decided we were finally old enough not to need his help. And don't tell him I said this, but we actually had fun! My brother and I were so goofy! I started judging his hay bale spearing with the tractor (He got a lot of perfect tens!). I did cartwheels and made outfits with the plastic bags. My brother and I took pictures of each other doing silly things. And I even made little plant sculptures out of the weeds and decorations for my hair out of flowers. I spun in circles and then tried to run a straight line and we played the I-can't-really-hear-you-because-the-tractor-is-so-loud-so-I'm-making-up-what-I-think-you-are-saying game. We laughed so hard that our hours of work outside didn't feel like work at all. One of my favorite moments was our impromptu rock, paper, scissors game where we tied five times in a row! It was so funny that we started at the same time and then picked the same one every time! And even through our goofiness all the work was done and our field looks beautiful! What a surprisingly fun day!