The mowers across the valley hum with honey bee intensity. Mid-morning heat and the grass has parted ways with the dew after their nightly tryst. Hay is down in dozens of fields, signs of industry from the stewards of those lands. Other pastures are newly shorn and baled, revealing lines both stark and sensual. Round and square bales dot the landscape like chess pieces randomly scattered after play.
Gathering my own pieces—a stirrup and a Dutch hoe, a pitchfork and a rake, a 50-gallon tub—I head into the vegetable garden. As I work, the sounds of lawnmowers combine with the nearby shout of a mother to a son, “Pick the green beans while you’re at it.” The sounds of scraping the soil, grunts of my own exertion, a ping as metal strikes rock, the thud of a rock casually tossed to the edge of the garden, where dozens more have gathered over the years.
The tub gradually fills with a spring mix of weeds, a buffet of flavors I tip over the adjoining fence for the sow and gilt, Delores and Petunia, to enjoy. They have been pacing the fence since I arrived, coated in mud from their wallow, grunting and squealing their impatience to begin dining. Another hour of weeding and culling and another tub filled: cabbages and turnips past their prime, leaves of chard and collards, all to be fed to the hogs in the woods later in the evening.
A retreat to the house and a lunch of the previous night’s dinner of grilled ribeyes, creamed chard, and new potatoes, then we catch up on our respective tasks. I read and finish a book before leaving to ted the hay in an upper field.
The grass cut only yesterday is already dry and ready to be baled, no tedding needed, its conversion to winter’s feed complete. Leaving the tractor behind, I enter on foot the sanctuary of the woods. Meaningful word “sanctuary,” both a refuge and a sacred place. Under the canopy of large oaks, poplars, and maples, the woods are still cool and sheltering from the blazing afternoon heat, and the word is both to me. The dogs drink from secret stumps water collected in recent rains. How many other animals know the same? Do they find these watering dishes by scent or instinct?
I walk along the winding lane and exit back into the sunlight. In a heat not yet marred by the humidity of late day, there is an oven-like comfort, like a woodstove in a cool house. At pasture’s edge, a new mother guards her calf, fiercely eyeing the dogs. 
We move on, past the pond, past the white oak, through the equipment yard. The dogs find shelter from the heat under the chicken coop; I find shelter indoors.
Closing the blinds, we lie down under the ceiling fan and take a midday nap. Sleep is refuge against a hot Tennessee summer day, a sacred state of renewal before the workday reconvenes.
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Reading this weekend: Anatole France, “Revolt of the Angels”
How long do you generally leave your pasture hay before baling, Brian? We generally reckon on 3-4 dry days of 30-40C.
David,
Three days is average. Of course so much depends on humidity, temps, weather and equipment. Those who use haybines can often bale the second day. That is if all the other conditions are good. The crimping action of the ‘bine squeezes out some of the moisture. I usually plan on three days. I was just surprised this weekend that what was a heavy cutting was close to ready to rake and bale the second day.
I use a 7 foot sickle mower for cutting, a four wheel rake for tedding and raking and a 4×4 round baler. We borrow a square baler each year to put up about 150. That and about 50 round bales will carry us through the winter.
What do you use to cut hay?
On another topic: get that sub button on your blog. 🙂
Cheers,
Brian
We get a local farmer who does some contracting on the side to cut, bale and wrap 5×4 round bales. He’s been doing hay for many decades. Does a great job. He’s now about 70 and says next year will be his last baling season. Aging of the local farmer cohort is a serious issue with not many farming family children wanting to continue.
One local contractor still does small squares. The margin is much better on small squares selling to people who keep horses. And we have a reasonable size hay shed that can take ~100 5×4 bales so plenty of space. But the contractor was booked up solid for weeks at hay-cutting season this year so we missed out.
We’re aiming to cut very little hay for selling off-farm as essentially it’s exporting nutrients. But it is nice to sell some to other farmers in our valley as a local economy building measure. And it’s a handy way to get grass cut in paddocks where we have young trees planted so can’t use stock to graze.
Bye for now
David
PS Sub button added 🙂
Good point about exporting nutrients. We’ve toyed with selling square bales, good money in that as a sideline for the farm. But our main goal/struggle is to get enough baled for our own use.
Some very nice imagery and accompanying pictures!
Thanks, mystery woman.
Its Monday afternoon and the radar here suggests you might be getting some rain. Nice to have the hay up I’m guessing.
Found Knoxville to be in good shape over the weekend. Pity we were only able to spend about 36 hours in town. Did get to meet some interesting folk at the farmer’s market. Vern from Etowah was there. Interesting.
Clem,
Disaster last Friday. I broke the cutting bar on the sickle mower. I did have a replacement but the expansion pin had blown out. And the manufacturer of my mower (Tonutti) no longer has an American distributor. It took until Monday to track down a part, it arrives today.Fortunately another window for mowing opens Saturday.
Glad you had a good visit to K-town. Next time pack those boots and come out to the farm.
Cheers,
Brian
Serious bummer dude. I hate breakdowns. Had a flat tire on the lawn tractor and too lazy to cut the back yard with the push mower. The tire on the lawn tractor sounds like your sickle mower part… not quickly replaced. Finally got to the back yard last night and it looks like a hay field. Maybe I should bale it 🙂
Will need to schedule a bit longer visit to E TN at some point. We’ve typically left OH on a Friday and have to turn around and head back on Sunday… leaves too little time. Daughter is expecting twins in October – we’ll certainly be spending a bit more time when they get here. But I should also figure your schedule into something… August is a good time for me to get away from the soybean fields. I appreciate that a Tennessee August can be a muggy experience, but that wouldn’t stop me from wearing boots and carrying a bucket out to Dolores and company.
When will you do the square bales? I have LOTS of experience with those… and will work for beer.