Magic and Rhythm

Economies of scale conspire to remove the magic elements of farm work.  That one tree left in the middle of a field, providing a resting point for a farmer and her animals.  The ringing silence after the threshing machine is powered down, when the joking among the workers involved steps back out to occupy the now-empty spaces.  The sound of leather creaking on a harness or of yoke rings jingling, creating a bit of ambient, yet not unpleasant music to accompany the task.

Once they're gone from a farm, those magic moments often stay gone.  So it was a real joy to spend an afternoon last Wednesday putting up loose hay in the barn at Tillers using animal power.  

The class was "Farming with Horses and Oxen," and the students were living history professionals and prospective animal-powered farmers.  

While we worked (and I scrambled around deleting old clips from my phone to shoot a little video), Jim Slining remarked that there is a real rhythm to the teamwork involved in putting up hay with hooks and tracks.  Each person has a job and they all have to work and wait for their task to come round again. Some life metaphor probably lives in there.  Maybe you'll find it while you're putting up loose hay.