192/365 old art, originally uploaded by rosipaw.
There is a ‘Village of Living History’ not far from my home that I enjoy cycling to in summer. It’s a great place in the middle of a modern town for families to teach children about the agricultural roots of our country. It’s basically a working farm with all the buildings, tools and activities, farm animals, fields, and the farmer’s and workers’ homes as well.
As July is the month for haymaking, they also demonstrate the old art of drying hay on wooden poles. This scene instantly reminds me of my childhood summers spent at my grandparents’ summer place, and helping my cousins’ family with their haymaking. We kids were allowed to jump on the trailer of the tractor to stamp down the collected hay. So much fun!
I much prefer this scene to the modern, ‘industrial’ version of haymaking, prevalent today. The unique touch of human hands as opposed to the uniform products of machines!
Though I never helped with haymaking, this brings back scenes from my childhood. I don’t think they used polls, but they certainly stacked hay in piles. I also remember a hayride – a ride in a horse-drawn wagon piled with hay. Now we also see the plastic covered bales.
Interesting to hear that you have such similar memories! Now that you mention it, I, too remember the horse-drawn wagon rides before the tractors.
Your hay piles remind me of Monet, although his were stacks, weren’t they? I haven’t had much to do with haystacks apart from passing them in the car on rare drives into the country.