Country driving

The other day, a fav blogger of mine (MerrilyMarylee) did a post that involved two hooter-like round bales of hay in a wagon in front of her car.  They looked quite rude, not to mention hilarious. That got me thinking about all the wild and whacky farm vehicles I get stuck behind, living and driving in the country. Growing up in Toronto, I never saw such exotic vehicles, but here they are a dime a dozen, especially at harvest and planting times.

When we were out and about last Monday (Thanksgiving in Canada), we followed several interesting vehicles and of course I feel compelled to share!

Here's our least-favourite vehicle to follow...

The SH*T-SPREADER!

Nothing says "country" like a farmer spraying vat-loads of liquid poo all over his/her fields!

Fortunately he quickly turned off the road, leaving only a soupçon of manure stench behind.

Farmers aren't supposed to leave a mess on the roads but sometimes they do anyway. Further along, we drove through a long stretch of filth-covered road where another farmer had been trundling along with who-knows-what falling off his tractor...

Later, we came across a precariously-stacked load of round bales, nowhere near as amusing as Marylee's, since among other things they were stacked side-on!

We don't mind getting stuck behind farm vehicles. It's part of rural life. You just wait until the way is safe and pass them. They usually pull over as much as possible to give you space when it's safe to pass.

Later, we saw a load of freshly-harvested soybeans being taken away...

We have soybeans in our fields that will be harvested any day now. They are destined for Japanese tofu. Eventually our farm will be turned into a pollinator and waterfowl sanctuary. Ducks Unlimited is putting an acre-wide pond in our back pasture next year. It's the start of good things to come. (They won't be hunting on the pond, just making duck habitat and giving us funding for it!)

Anyway, back to vehicles. Monday was a banner day for interesting sights. Here we have...

...drainage pipe for tile-draining fields! Our fields are tile-drained, so they are better for growing things and get less soggy.

We turned the same way he did.

He pulled over to let us pass.

Crazy lady taking pictures of farmers!

Gordon stopped at the Apple Hill post office to check his business mailbox, and while he did, the tile-drain guy passed us again!

So we passed him once more.

Life is never dull in the country!