Hay Making
When Daddy and Uncle Sam arrived on the farm they were told by Mr. McMullen they would be in his gang for haymaking. I can remember when I was quite small helping Mother to pick and shell broad beans to go with the huge roast and potatoes she was cooking for the men’s dinner. Then it was gooseberries to pick and to top and tail, then 10 men coming in to eat it. This happened when it was our turn until 1936 and that year Ralph, a young cousin of my Father’s, was seeking a job to pay for his University training. The men folk decided that with his help, two women and two children, we would do our own hay. I was detailed to drive the horse in the rake - a contraption that had a row of curved tynes that picked up the hay and when tripped, left it in a heap. As one went round the paddock and dumped the hay it made a row that could be collected by the sweep. Sometimes the tynes jumped too high and caught on the seat and then some hay was missed.
Uncle Sam had two horses in the sweep; it consisted of three gates hinged, and the two horses, Jock and Charlie, pulled from each end. The horses went, one each side of the cocks and when it was full they took it back to the stack and unlatched the gates, leaving the hay behind. There Ralph pushed the grab into the hay, and Aunt Lizzie drove Duke to pull the grab and the hay on to the stack, where Daddy was endeavoring to place it where he wanted it. Edith, on the end of the rope attached to the grab, ran round the stack to help get it where it was needed.
So we all worked together and made a good team, while Mother prepared meals to feed us, though not the cooked dinners she had made previously. If the hay hadn’t been raked properly or had been too wet and stuck to the ground the sweep rode over the top of it and of course that meant retracing steps or raking again. One day poor Duke collapsed at his job and caused great consternation, but as soon as the weight was released he got to his feet again so we learned not to make the load too heavy. At first Ralph was a bit afraid of the horses and it must have been very embarrassing for a lad of 17 to be shown how to harness them by two little girls. He soon learnt, and was a confident helper by the time haymaking was finished. A number of years later we bought a side rake and this would turn two rows into one, or, if the centre teeth were removed, turn the two rows separately but it still needed to be put into cocks.
One year, when the weather had been particularly contrary, raining when ever we got the hay nearly dry enough to put it in, we did it on a Sunday a thing we had never done before. A little while later they found it was getting very hot and had to cut holes through it to stop it going on fire. Much to everyone’s relief it did work and the hay was saved. Morning and afternoon teas were always shared picnic fashion in the paddock but sometimes at lunchtime we all took time to enjoy a swim before we ate. We all enjoyed haymaking time, but after I was married, Robbie was employed with his baler and ways were changed again.
My Father had a camera with slides and when he took a photo he had a black cloth over his head - when that was replaced by one with a film we had the unused slides to play with. We had a great time making pictures with leaves and the sunshine. Several years later, Uncle Sam gave me a camera and thereafter I began to fill books with photos. Not that I was ever an expert - guess I was too impatient for that, but they have given me great pleasure as well as being a good record of growth of the children, changes, and new things and when they happened.