Americana the Beautiful - One state and wacky festival at a time

Square (really, rectangle) are being sold; hence the shape for stacking. Round are used for feeding on your very own farm.

I love hay! Not to eat, let’s be clear. I mean, I don’t even like iceberg lettuce, but I think it’s beautiful. Perhaps for its ubiquity; for its symbolism of not being in a city; the pure magic of getting all those tiny pieces into compact bales.

So clearly driving across the backroads (and sometimes smack beside the highways) hay abounds. And it calls to me to take pictures.

Gettysburg, PA; Of course they dressed up bales as a patriotic lady–complete with glasses. It was a rainy day, so pardon the haze. I got sopping wet for you people (well, and myself, too).

Freshly mowed hay in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate NY.

A Mennonite man pauses to organize hay bales. They were overflowing as the machine kicked them into the bin and he needed to re-balance.

Hay baler in action. I L.O.V.E. when it kicks a completed bale into the bin. You can see the movement in the pic. It’s humming along and then wapow! It shoots out! I giggle every time.

Watch this video, courtesy of YouTube, to see the baler in action. I was so enthralled–and flustered that the farmer waved at me–that I didn’t think to take my own video.

A Wyoming hay field (not from this trip, but yes, my pic)

Sunset on stacked hay in Montana, Not this trip, but yes, my pic.

A massive field of round hay bales in Wyoming. Not this trip, but yes, my pic.

Storing hay from the elements in Kentucky. Not this trip, but yes, my pic.

Shower caps on round hay bales to protect them from bugs and weather. Finger Lakes region of New York.

Watch a video, courtesy of YouTube, that shows how round hay bales are made and how the shower caps (not the official term) are put on. I think the whole “parade” is fascinating, but if you don’t or don’t have five minutes to spare, skip to 2:00 and watch 15 seconds, then skip to 3:00 and watch from there to the end.