Hitting the Hay

'Technically' it was private land but next to main public roads. Cars kept going by and I either had to pull my pants up or get out of view in a hurry. The hay was fun to climb up, but you don't want it poking bare skin which I was completely bare against most of the time.'

The quote from model Hansel Wellington comes from US themed Thanksgiving piece that I posted back in 2016. (HERE:)  The images were shot by photographer Tom Nakielski. (Lights On Studio)  The location, The Michigan State University Sheep Teaching and Research Center. The rolled haystacks were located in one of MSU's cow pastures.   As many FH viewers know, I've been featuring Tom's holiday work for over a decade.  Tom captured at least 5 exclusive Thanksgiving themed shoots for the site.

It was Tom's haystack shots with Hansel that inspired me to write about childhood trips to the country.  Although I liver rurally now, I grew up in a city.  Our family would head to country once or twice a year, usually on the hunt for fresh fruit and vegetables.  My mother loved to prepare for the winter, something she learned from her mother.  She made jars and jars of jams, pickles and jams that lasted us long beyond the next few months of winter.

Viggo Sorensen

Although with the sites, my fondest memories are of the smells.  It started during the car ride, when my dad would always make us laugh every time the smell of manure would waft into the car.  While my mother and us kids would roll up the windows, my dad would roll his down and take a deep breath in, sharing how much he loved the smelly scent. 

By the time we finally arrived, the smell of manure became sort of normal, and it was the other smells from the farm that took over.  These were scents I enjoyed taking in.  The smell of the fresh air, the animals, and especially the freshly baled hay.  Living int he country now, the smell is pretty common, but like my dad with that manure, whenever I pass a freshly mowed field full of bales of hay.

It's sort of odd, but hay, and hay barns, have become closely linked with sex.   I think it's all those television shows and movies in which couples snuck away to do the deed in a barn or hayloft.  Usually, the only eyes enjoying the show were any animals still stuck in their stalls.