Anybody up for a random meme dump?
- Thread starter Bofa-Deez
- Start date
I grew up on a farm. One 3rd hay cutting in August, my dad hired a high school kid to help put up the 30-40 lb square bales. He quit at noon.
So my 8 year old brother drove the baler the rest of the day and my older bother, dad, and I finished without him. We were 10 and 12. My 67 year old grandpa drove some of the loads out of the field, and kept us fed and hydrated.
That was the last guy my dad hired to help.
We put up 4,000-4,500 bales on good years, plus 300-500 off our native prairie grass field for the horses. In a barn, in the summer.
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I had a friend that we used to bale hay and he was good help. I had tried various other friends over the years even our star fullback but they all refused to return after the first day, too much work and too dusty.
When I was seven, my Dad thought it would be good for me to get out of the city and see what real work was like, so he sent me to the 'family' dairy farm, outside of Westphalia, MO for the summer. I learned to get up at 4 a.m. in time to milk the cows. I learned to drive the baler and the Ford tractor pulling the hay wagon. I learned how to fix an ancient John Deere tractor. I learned to drive his Chevy pickup, though not on the roads. I learned how to feed chickens (easy) and how to kill them for supper (not as easy). I learned to go to bed at 9 p.m., absolutely exhausted, every night.
Mostly what I learned is a) I never want to be a farmer, b) school is really easy, compared to farming, and c) I want a job in air conditioning that doesn't start until 8:30 a.m. I think every kid should have this experience.
I was outside yesterday watering the garden. The heat index was 111.4 F. I was sweating so bad, my shirt and shorts were drenched. Just holding a hose. I don't ever remember being like that in long sleeve shirts, jeans, and boots working as a kid.
We got mid-days off when it broke 100 F. Nobody tracked the heat index. We made up for the hours getting up earlier and working past dark.
