the hay guy

Mack was my hay guy (and so much more) since 2011, but then he died in '20. In '22 I found George serendipitously-- I called another hay guy and he gave me George's name and number. I called George and arranged round bales for that year. 

 I can't tell you how nervous I was. It's silly, I know, but a good hay relationship means so much and here I live in ruby red Tennessee and I have "smash the Patriarchy" kinds of bumper stickers on what would otherwise be a "good ole boy" manual transmission old full size single cab truck. So I want that phone impression to emphasize the "good ole boy" part of who I am.

George has been my hay guy for 3 hay years. That means I've seen him about 24 times total, give or take. You don't do business of any sort here without some talking. At least, you don't do business politely without some sort of talking, and this hay relationship really bears out why that's a good thing.

See, I assumed George was as red as most of our neighbors, and I still don't know that he isn't. But his wife was the principal of the little 3 room elementary school our kids would have gone to if they'd gone to school. I didn't know that until the next to last hay run this year. When new folks were running to be the county commissioner from our district, I asked his opinion on the folks, and he knew who was running so he pays attention to low level politics. Eventually we've talked about all sorts of things, from making maple syrup to latigos breaking while riding horses to what's in the garden. He knows every trail on this mountain I think, and I sure would love to get him to map them out for me - the steps, the rock house, and all. At the very end of last year I found out he loves hominy and I promised him some at first hay this year. I didn't forget either. And no one in our family forgot at last hay of the year the other day either because they make sure that I took him some more hominy.

"So you think 16 bales next year too?" Yes, unless I get a big horse again and then it will be more. I cannot tell you how much relationships like this mean to me. Or how top quality his hay is.

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Do you want to make your own hominy? Grow some hard corn. This is not as hard as it might seem, and doesn't take as big a patch as you might think. Or buy some -- if it ain't gonna poison a horse, it ain't gonna poison you. Dump a gallon bag of it into a big stock pot, fill that pot with water, add a couple spoonfuls of pickling lime, bring to a boil, cover and let sit until tomorrow. Tomorrow, wash the hulls off, then dry it (best to have a good sized dehydrator to dry this much). You can grind it wet then dry it for grits. For masa we usually grind it as for grits, then dry it, then grind it again (dry) to get the right consistency.

And always take good care of your hay guy once you've found a good 'un.