Chips and shavings

Chop! Chop! The chips are flying around. He gives his axe another sway. The early morning air fills with the aromatic scent of pinewood and resin. After a few more solid blows, a nice point has arisen at the end of the post. The next pole is peeled with a large knife. Long curls from the bark fall to the floor. The cat is enjoying the morning sun when she suddenly pricks up her ears. With a big jump, she attacks one of the curls that was blown away by a breeze. She frolics with it for a moment. The amusing behaviour makes me laugh.

It's June. Just a few more weeks until the longest day of the year and already the light is never fading from the sky. The forests are dense with greenery and the grasslands are colorful with flowers. Swallows dart back and forth across the yard to fill their bellies. Yes, it's almost hay time again.

A lot of preparations are still going on. The poles to make the hässjor (a kind of drying rack for hay) are not so new anymore and some have seen better days. That's okay, when you consider that most were made by our neighbor when he was a little boy, and that he is now in his late 70s. Then you can't complain after 60 years of use. You can imagine that we are very happy that a load of new poles were delivered a few days ago. These come so fresh from the forest so there is still a job to do. All posts should be peeled to prevent rotting and a point chopped.

Making hässjor is a simple and convenient method of making hay. If you do it right, the hay is of the best quality. Until the 1970s it was common in Sweden to make hay on hässjor but now it has been  forgotten when of tractors and the pack/bale press came in use.

Making hassjor may be a tough and time consuming job but it is a very reliable way to get the grass dry, even if it rains for days on end and it used to be the only way to get good hay for your animals.

Chop! Chop! The next pole is pointed. Some poles are so long that both a poles and a fence post can be made and even the chips are not thrown away but dried. That is ideal for lighting the stove. Nothing is lost and everything is put to good use. Only about 40 poles to go, but we still have 3 weeks....