Wednesday, August 24, 2011

S/ Alphabe-Thursday

 SQUARE (some say rectangular) bales of straw ready to be taken to the barn

Whenever hay or straw has been cut and sufficiently dried, it's baling time in East Gwillimbury, which could be one, two or three times a year depending on rainfall. Believe it or not, watching the process can be entertaining... for a few minutes each year, at least.

 Shooting up, up, UP...

Making SQUARE bales can be especially fun to watch for a photographer. You can't see the tractor in this photo, but it is pulling the baler, which is making the bales and shooting them up, over...

 and over!

and into the hay wagon.  Capturing a bale in mid air is the entertainment for me.

 Smokin', baby!

A couple of years ago, I even captured dust coming out of the bales. Doesn't it look a bit like smoke?

Neat and orderly, and not nearly as entertaining

These SQUARE bales look like they might actually be SQUARE (or in three dimensions, cubes).

I am linking to Jenny Matlock at Alphabe-Thursday HERE


38 comments:

Stefan Jansson said...

Nice series of agricultural photos.

Lois Evensen said...

Cool series. Love those action shots!

Yes, dry is important or you'll have a whole bale of compost after a little while. :\

kayerj said...

I've never seen them shot into the wagon like that--so funny. We used to stack our bales on the trailer by hand. We called it bucking the bales.

MadSnapper said...

I like the first and the last because of those beautiful primary colors and i LOVE the smokin baby JUST BECAUSE

RedPat said...

Cool series! It is fascinating like watching a construction site.

George said...

I really enjoyed these photos. I'm an old-timer who had to help stack bales into the wagon by hand. It sure would have been nice to have the baler shoot them into the wagon.
I really like your 'smokin' photo.

Lowell said...

That's the easy way to do it. When a teen, I worked one summer on a central California farm. One of my jobs involved throwing small bales of hay around...it was hot, dusty, sticky! Just awful.

Nice photos though!

Buttons Thoughts said...

Oh I love the way you capture the bale in the air. I always enjoyed watching rather than doing myself too. B

Elisa N Viajes said...

Your pictures look great!
Have a nice day
Elisa

Angela said...

It is entertaining watching it when they are even cutting the tall grass for the hay to me! lol I love watching the entire process when I can. I think my hay man that does our hay thinks I'm a nut but hey it's my hay and I like watching it. They usually do the round bales around here. After it's all done my kids and dogs love getting their pictures taken on the large round bales of hay!

Great pictures! I've never seen one do it where they shoot up up and up like that! That would be fun to watch too.

Gillian Olson said...

I can amost smell the fresh hay. Great action shots too.

Michelle said...

I love the baled hay. We usually have the large rolls around here.

Judie said...

OMG! Those photos are THE BEST! I bet it was really cool to watch in person!! Good post!!!

ellen b. said...

Wonderful...I bet they are easier to stack that way.

Jenny said...

Oh, I love these super action shots.

These took me back to hot summers baling hay for school clothes money. Oh, the prickles and scrapes and itchy days...

But how wonderful to be able to buy something new for myself!

Thanks for a super link. Loved this post.

A+

Anonymous said...

This is amazing. The action of the bales flying is just wonderful.

Jack said...

A fun series, EG. As a city slicker (suburb slicker?), I have no familiarity with baling.

Pondside said...

Our friends have taken in two hay crops this summer - and our goats will be well-fed.
I love the 'smokin' bales' picture!

Kathy said...

Here in East Texas baling of hay usually happens every 28 days - except in this year of drought we have only had two cuttings thus far this season! Hopefully there will be enough rain for a third before the end of September. "Square" bales are rare these days. Hay is baled in rolls now. I'll bet you have rolls in Canada too, don't you? Love the shot of the bale flying through the air!

Ebie said...

I really enjoyed these series! I love this rustic country life and landscape.

Anonymous said...

Great captures! I love taking pictures of baling hay. We really need some rain so I might be able to have another cutting.

Teresa

Annesphamily said...

My hubby has many memories of baling hay. He spent his childhood summers on the farm at his grandparents in Holly, CO. Ah...memories.
Greta S post and the pictures are spectacular! Anne

Randy said...

That would have been fun to see.

Cheryl said...

Having grown up on a working farm, this was the best part of the year until I developed allergies to every growing thing. GAH!

Love that smokin' hot shot!

Esther Joy said...

After my brother got sick with "Bright's Disease" I became my Dad's helper on the farm, and helped with lifting those square bales...

Martha Z said...

Great capture of amazing ingenuity. I am amazed that the baler throws the bales into the wagon. Do they ever miss?

Francisca said...

While you're watching and shooting baling of hay, my honey is trying to sell balers of garbage... same idea, making it neat and organized. The photos are not near as charming. :-)

Gattina said...

Years ago we also head square bales, but now they all look like rolls. we tried to make a house with the square bales when I was a child.

Lola said...

Hi again!

Love your ‘S’ post! And thanks for stopping by!

Have a great weekend & look forward to *seeing* you again next time,

XOXO LOLA:)

jfb57 said...

I think I prefer the square bales to the round ones. Love the action shots!

Roan said...

My back hurts and my arms itch just looking at these pics. I was the stacker on the wagon. Love the mid-air shot!

Halcyon said...

Amazing! I have never seen hay being baled. Looks pretty exciting.

Rocky Mountain Woman said...

Actually, one of my very favorite things in the world is a neat field of baled hay. It speaks of industry and husbandry to me as a horsewoman.

I loved these pics! Thanks so much for sharing them...

xxoo,

RMW

Susan Anderson said...

This was a great series, and I especially loved the bale with "smoke" coming out of it.

=)

Self Sagacity said...

I've never seen hay tossed, thanks for sharing. Double link-up, come join the conversations every Thursday and Post your questions on Thursday Two Questions Meme

H said...

Proper bales!!

My dairy farmer uncle used to make bales like these, but they weren't shot into a trailer. Behind the baler was a sled into which the tied bales fell. My job, as a kid, was to ride the back of the sled and release the piles of bales when the sled was pretty full. Great fun!

Shammickite said...

mostly I see the big cylindrical bales now.

ArtandArchitecture-SF.com said...

The bail in mid air is an unbelievably fabulous shot. What a capture!

Friends who encourage me

Blog Archive

About Me

My photo
East Gwillimbury is a rural town less than an hour north of Toronto, Canada's largest city. My family calls me CameraGirl because I take my camera with me wherever I go.