It might be an odd subject for the middle of winter but I came upon these weatherproof hay bales during the little bit of snow we had recently. And it reminded me of other winters and packed and sealed bales of hay.

Of course, plastic, plastic everywhere these days and the bales are wrapped up and stacked right after the hay being cut.

What used to be manual labour is done by a bale press nowadays. Almost uniform bricks of hay are already pressed in the meadow or huge round bales driven through the village to the barn.

Storks and egrets and herons follow the bale presses for immediate and delayed rewards.

The bales are left in the fields for a while or stacked in the barn.

Stragglers like this lonely bale are shown the way by Karl, the haystack dummy.

Good things come to those who wait. And even the stork is rewarded for its patience.

I’m a fan of … #144