Fine Fancy: Farming

When I said that I had probably participated in every redneck activity to date, I wasn't joking. My husband grew up on a Hay Farm and the summer we started dating, our dates consisted of hopping on a tractor and doing farm work. 

In the past year I have learned to move pipe, swath (cut the hay), seed (plant the hay), plow, work wheel lines (those sprinklers you see that have the large metal wheels on them), and just about everything else there is to do with farming. I've stacked hay, I've cut hay, I've created hay bales, I've raked hay, I've moved hay, I've even spent time creating large obstacle courses out of giant bales and jumped from one to the other. Some would call me an expert; practically everyone except for my husband's family, but whatever. 

Somehow, even though I secretly vowed to not do farm work this year, we ended up doing it - and I loved every minute of it (minus the hay fever part). I fell in love with my husband on a tractor; like I said, our dates consisted of doing farm work until 2:00 am and then going to get burritos from the only place still open in Idaho Falls. You can really learn a lot about a person when you are stuck on a machine for 6 hours with nothing to do other than talk, sing obnoxiously to the crackly radio, and talk some more. Although we didn't stay out late and get burritos this time, being able to play farm-girl again was oddly refreshing. Now, I wouldn't personally go out and buy myself some cowgirl boots, but I do enjoy getting on the swather (the "tractor" that has blades and is used for cutting the hay down - this is what we are doing in the picture above) and taking it for a spin. 

Anyway, this past week we visited my in-laws, who had just happened to purchase a new machine. This of course meant that we had to drop everything we were doing and take it for a test run. Now, usually a test run last for what, like 10 minutes? Yeah, not this one. My husband was absolutely perplexed and ended up swathing an entire field on our little "test run". He was like a 5 year old receiving a new toy. Me driving the thing was absolutely, in no way, shape, or form, happening while he lovingly stroked the new seat, caressed the steering wheel, and practically salivated over the high-tech equipment it came with. 

We spent a good portion of the evening sitting contentedly in our little seats, cutting hay, and reminiscing (this was, of course, after I had snapped my husband back into reality). It was exactly what I needed this week, even if it wasn't exactly devoid of complaints. 

I'll update you on the next redneck activity we do, for sure. 

- Alex