Hey, It's Hay

Welcome to the sequel to my smash hit and highly educational post: Hey, That's Not Hay.

Attention ignorant hayride riders the world over: THIS is hay. It is valuable cow food. No one would ever let you sit on it.


Actually, this is hay when it has just been mowed. (Is it necessary to say here that BEFORE being mowed, this area just looked like a grassy area--that needed to be mowed?)


Oh, and look what we have here: hay that's been raked. This must be how it feels to work in Martha Stewart's kitchen--where the next major step in every process is magically complete and ready to show.

Now I will share a view from my patented hay-cam, showing exactly what a piece of hay sees right before it is raked or fluffed or molested somehow by this machine.

After the hay is mowed and raked, it is baled. Please note--and this is important--that hay can be baled in large round bales (called round bales) or in smaller square bales (commonly known as square bales). NEITHER KIND IS USED IN HAY RIDES. HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU?

We bale our hay mostly in round bales and use this cool hay-wrapper thingy (yes, that is the official name for it) to cover them, saving the hay from the ravages of weather and critters. Also, this machine is really cool for those hard-to-wrap gifts (just kidding).

So now we have a giant tube of hay across from our house. I do want to point out something VERY COOL about our hay-wrapper thingy because you may be wondering how it pushes the hay bale through, especially since it is connected to this long and heavy hay tube. BUT the genius of this machine is that IT MOVES and the bale stays still.

See, the bale goes in and then the wrapper MOVES BACK as it wraps the bale, making way for a new one... Sorry, did I lose you? I just get so excited sometimes about the brilliant simplicity of farm machinery.

Anyway, we'll spend the rest of the summer baling hay. Well, not me, actually. I have a hay-less hay ride to plan.

What Farm Kids Do for Fun - Part II

They may not have sidewalks for their bikes or any neighbors under 50 in a five mile radius, but kids in the country know how to have fun.

This weekend our kids and their country cousins hosted a fall party at the farm. Thank goodness we invited our teacher mother and teacher mother-in-law for crowd control, because we did not know how to manage 19 kids. We did some things right like planning lots of activities, but the very challenge of keeping the attention of that many kids while you give instructions and organize them--that's why teachers make the big bucks (oh, wait...).

You MUST click on this photo to see the full cuteness of these pumpkins.

They decorated pumpkins using "Mr. Potato Head" branded kits with plastic pieces. If such things existed when we were kids, they would have come equipped with sharp points, probably metal, for stabbing into the pumpkin. I'm not sure how the people at Hasbro think that their rounded plastic tipped parts are supposed to pierce a raw vegetable, but having done this before, we were prepared with screwdrivers with which to stab Mr. Pumpkin Head repeatedly until all 13 parts were added.

While I handled all the invitations, cleaned the house, made the cupcakes, weeded the flower bed, and procured two dozen Mr. Potato Head kits, my husband had one main job for the party--the straw maze. And while he did grumble about getting 50 bales out of the barn, I think he had fun making the maze. All the kids LOVED it.

What party on the farm is complete without a hay ride. Note: all regular readers of this blog should know that we don't really use hay.

This was Morgan and Justin's first opportunity to invite their own friends to a party. Morgan invited "big girl" friends of the family and Justin invited friends from pre-school.

In two hours we played in the straw maze, went on a treasure hunt around the farm, made sand art in a jar, ate a snack, decorated pumpkins and went on a hay ride. Whew. Try doing that on your cul de sac.

Hey, That's Not Hay!

There's one thing you can count on when the mercury rises in farm country. It's time to cram that air conditioner in the window again. That too, but what I really mean is that it is time to bale the hay and straw.

So here's a little tutorial on straw, just to keep you from being one of those annoyingly ignorant people who thinks any respectable hayride operator would actually let you sit your be-hind on their valuable hay while you are pulled around on their wagon.

Straw is a by-product of wheat. It's actually the stalk of the wheat--the part spit out the back of the combine. Our neighbor, "Horn," is harvesting his wheat in this photo.

After the wheat grain is hauled away, then farmers come through with the hay baler (it is still called a hay baler, even when baling straw). And upon determining yes, it is the hottest day of the entire summer, they proceed to bale the straw, a process that requires a tractor operator (always the best job), and at least one bale stacker (the very worst job), plus others back at the barn to unload wagons, assuming you are making multiple trips.

This photo shows my father-in-law operating the tractor, my husband as bale stacker and those two other tiny little things in the tractor are my two sons.

There is a science to stacking bales of straw and hay. Obviously, you want to get the most on the wagon in a way that's not going to topple on you. Also, when stored, the bales need to last well into the winter, so they need to be stacked tightly to stave off dampness and critters.

Here's another look at the baler. I'm finding that no farm fact is too basic for some people, so I will point out that the baler works by compressing the straw and then tying it up with baling twine.

Many a farmer also uses baling twine to keep his pants up, re-attach parts to his tractor, and if needed, it also comes in handy as a tourniquet if you do something dumb like stick your hand inside the corn picker. Or maybe ride on the back of the baler as it goes down a major roadway.

So the next time you go on a "hay" ride know that some rural kid worked on a 110 degree July day to bring you that bale. And should you go too heavy on the cider and fall off, make sure someone in your party knows all of the first aid applications of baling twine.