Putting up hay was done very differently when I was a child. There were no balers to produce those huge round bales that we often see scattered over the hayfields and in road ditches.

As a farm kid growing up in the 1950’s haying required that the alfalfa first, be mowed.

The newly cut alfalfa would next be gathered up by a dump rake.

The farmer on a tractor pulled the dump rake.

The dump rake had rounded, metal teeth that scraped the ground and soon was filled with the alfalfa.

The farmer would pull a lever that caused the metal teeth to lift leaving a pile of hay behind.

So once the raking was complete the field was filled with little piles of alfalfa.

Then came the stacker.

The stacker was mounted on the front of a tractor and consisted of a wooden frame that could be raised and lowered.

The tractor operator would scoop up the piles of hay and once the stacker was full the hay was lifted and dumped where a haystack would be formed.

Back then I and my two brothers’ job was to jump on the newly forming haystack using our 65-pound bodies to stamp the hay and make a firmer stack.

Finally, once the haystack was fifteen feet to twenty feet high the stack was complete, and we three kids were still stomping. But we were very careful not to get too close to the stack’s edge.

A twenty-foot drop would be quite painful. 🙁

I relived those memories last week.

Because of my new hip being quite painful I decided this spring to delay lawn mowing until June.

Abundant rain fell this spring so when it came time for the first mowing the old John Deere lawnmower had to really snort to complete its job.

Once the lawn was mowed, I gazed out to take in the view and was shocked to see the windrows of grass.

That can’t stay that way!! The windrows of grass will block out the sunlight and the grass under the windrows will die.

The people traveling highway #27 will look at our yard and laugh at the yellow grass streaks in my lawn!!

So, what do I do about it?

Hey, those windrows are nothing more than lawn hay!

So, I will return to the 1950’s again and repeat those haying practices.

Of course, minus a hay stacker and a dump rake.

Instead, I’ll substitute a rake for the dump rake and a pitchfork for the stacker.

I put the grass clippings in my little green trailer and after many trips spread the clippings over my summer-fallowed garden.

Next year’s garden should be awesome! 🙂

There is only one problem.

I probably should have mowed a little earlier this spring.

We have had abundant rain the last couple of weeks and when I start to mow the lawn again guess what I will be leaving on my grass? Windrows!!

I know where I can get a dump rake, but a hay stacker will be a little more difficult!

But come on, this is 2025 and hay balers have been invented long ago!

I’ll rent a round baler, and I can’t wait to see how big the lawn bale will be! 🙂

Until next time! 🙂