Making Hay

In 1957 I was living in a beautiful little hamlet in Muskoka called Magnetawan. A village with a recorded population of 298 souls. It hadn't changed for years and because it relied on the summer tourist trade it kind of folded up in winter and went to sleep.In this year I planned to attend summer school to receive my PhEd diploma from Western University. It was a three year program and I was very interested in this summer's curriculum as it was mainly track and field events.

Money was not plentiful so I was always looking to find ways to supplement my income. A local farmer Bob needed some help to take  hay  off his mothers farm. He was a school board member and a good man so I decided to help.As a youngster I was familiar with the process and gladly took the job. Bob stated that it would be $10 a day and meals. That was OK with me so we set out on this little adventure. An adventure it was as the farm had not been kept up and the equipment was stored outside and needed some TLC.

I did not realize that Bob would not be working with me all the time so I was thrust down on this farm completely unfamiliar with the task. He showed me the old mower and the tractor in the machine shed and stayed until we had the tractor running and the mower released from the weeds which covered it. He was surprised with the deterioration from two years of growth. We oiled the moving parts and applied grease to the cutting blade and hitched up the old mower to give it a try.

When Bob saw that it worked he left me to fend for myself. When we cut hay in Cape Breton we used horses and and hand raked the fields. We turned the hay and placed it in wind rolls by hand. At times most of our family were involved. Girls and boys pitched in and we all helped. Being cautious I walked the hay fields to clear the way of any obstacles that could damage the mower. I found a few a well as some holes in the ground which could be a problem.

Before I started this elderly lady came from the house with a huge jug of lime juice. She greeted me and said that dinner was to be at 12pm sharp and Bob would join us. I did not realize it at the time but she was legally blind. I started the old Massey- Ferguson and began to cut the hay. It was good hay with a mixture of Timothy and clover and for old machinery it worked well. I worked at a rather slow pace not being familiar with some of the hand controls but speeded up when I had a flat section.

Being back working on this farm gave me ideas and I loved the connection with the land. I had the field nearly finished when I heard the gong and stopped the tractor and walked to the old house. There was no running water nor bathroom but facilities for washing consisted of a wash basin and a large cake of sunlight soap and a hard towel. I entered the rather dark kitchen and was greeted by the best smell in the world, fried chicken. Boiled potatoes with the skins on and Swiss chard for a veggie made a perfect dinner.The lady said grace and told Bob and I to dig in.To top off the dinner rhubarb pie was made that morning and still warm ,covered with chetter cheese completed the feast.

Dinner was over and we talked some about the weather and the state of the old homestead. She was to move into town some years ago but came to the farm for the summer. She was 87 years old and except for her sight loss was as spry as a youngster.We had to get to work and she refilled the lime juice jug and with a kind word said thank you for coming to help her with the haying. I finished that field and moved on to seven more over the next two days. The weather held and with the machine rake I was able to get everything ready for taking in the hay.

Bob came with a large truck and we loaded the hay on the truck box and hauled it to the hay barn. She still had the old hay forks for moving the hay to the hay mow. It was fun to see this gear functioning and to complete the job we sprinkled some salt on the hay in the mow for good luck.

Five days of good work,12 hours a day and the reward was fifty dollars paid in five dollar bills. I had such a good time money was insignificant but the experience of helping this elderly lady, eating her great food and just relating to her and nature made it all worth while. The lady left the farm that year never to go back but she left her old home tidy and ready for some person to move in and start a new life. When I got married a year later she and some other ladies made a quilt and gave it to us for a wedding gift.