Note: This post appeared in the old PlaceWorks blog a few years ago. Haven’t made hay here on the farm for a while – but back in the day, per this post, it was a whole family operation.
June 10, 2010 Made first hay of the season over the past few days. Mostly an exercise in revivifying old machinery (I do think of my ancient baler as having a life of its own), but also a 
chance to reconnect with field, sun, and sky. As I mentioned in an earlier post on making maple syrup, these home place seasonal tasks are part practical, part spiritual – essential aspects of the life experience here.
Anyone who has ever put up hay will tell you it takes some preparedness, a fair amount of hard work, and, when the time comes, quite a lot of luck to succeed at the enterprise. Continue reading Making Hay
For those of you not from “around here,” I’ll explain that boiling the sap of a maple tree, usually a rock or sugar maple, eventually yields maple syrup, the thick, sweet substance that we like to eat on pancakes – or on any number of other things for that matter. (About forty gallons of sap yields one gallon of syrup!) Maple sap flows best in the spring of the year when the temperature falls below freezing at night, then warms up during the day. All kinds of things can affect this flow. The amount of rain we got the previous fall, spring too cold or too warm. A slight breeze can shut down a good run on the nicest day. Making maple syrup is the kind of practice that generates a heightened awareness of the weather; making hay in summer is another such practice. (More on making hay when the time comes.)