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I’ve written before about the big men in trucks who make it possible for farms like ours to function: the man who picks up the fallen limbs on trees, who makes the septic work, who cuts and brings firewood for the winter, and today, David Weeks, a scholar of hay who brings the biggest and healthiest hay we’ve ever had.

Ordering hay is no longer the simple and easy task it was just a few years ago. Hay prices have shot up, along with everything else, and the weather is now so odd and unpredictable that farmers lose as much hay as they can grow.

David Weeks loves his hay and has studied and experimented with it his whole life. He is also a fun person to know – honest, cheerful, passionate about his hay (the sheep coats have flourished on his hay; they are richer and more beautiful than others).

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Hay is heavy; David sits down to rest in between tossing. He always has stories to tell.

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He is one of the people who make our lives possible and who help us do the best for our animals. His hay is the best. We come running out to meet him like grandparents greeting their grandchildren.

Maria, never missing a chance to outwork the big boys, puts on her gloves when she comes and catches the hay that David tosses from the truck. I know this hurts one wrist, but she doesn’t care what I think or what the wrist does. She was tossing hay around like a pillow.

The two enjoy working together; they toss the hay around like the veterans they are and yak all along the way. We love to see David; we learn a lot about hay, weather, and nourishment. He works at it, and his hay is wonderful to see and smell, and the animals agree. There is nothing like it.

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Two big days for me are the day the last piece is stacked in the shed and the day the last bale is stored in the barn. Now we are ready for winder, a big relief; the donkeys were excited. So was Fate.

For me, summer marks the beginning of winter preparation. I do that part, choosing the haymakers, calling them up, making sure they get paid on time. I also pepper them for information about making good hay and using second-crop hay. Before David, some of our hay people left because of the weather. David will drive all over the country, as necessary, to get his customers their hay.

We trust him completely.

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Getting ready for hay to be tossed, then stacked.

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Zip buries holes in the hay, the warmest spot on the farm in winter; this is an ancient practice of Barn Cats all over the world. They dig deeply into stacks of hay and doze. He is no sissy or city cat.

It is perhaps the safest place in the world, and also one of the warmest. Zip prefers it to his heated cat house in the barn (the animals’ rights vigilantes consider this abuse.

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Haymakers like shearers travel from farm to farm, talk about livestock and hay, and share stories about farms, animals, coyotes, and the weather. It’s a special kind of gossip; news travels from one farm to another.