Connie Lucas pretty much said the same thing in different words, “Make hay while the sun shines!” and Janice Udell and Patty Howard gave her a thumbs up.

I received other similar responses, with a number of people tagging their friends who they knew were going to be haying on the Fourth of July. Those tagged individuals didn’t reach out to me, and I am pretty sure it’s because they were too busy preparing for and then making hay. Or, they are the type that is a bit shy when it comes to social media, and didn’t comment. I can relate to that, too.

Rachael Wetherhult, 4-H leader of 24-Carrot Club, posted on her page a video of her 9-year-old son, Maddox, raking hay, along with a photo of him and fellow club member Abby Ruczynski marching in the Alpena parade. “4th of July parade for this little fella, then off to rake hay for the afternoon to feed all the critters.”

As Carolyn Dubie can attest, sometimes other farm projects have an emergency that you have to incorporate into your busy hay making day. Her post on Thursday, July 3, “Busy day here on the farm. Payton (age 12 years) and Grandpa raked a field and Lillian (age 11 years) and I went behind them turning over the parts that the rake didn’t because it was so thick. Kraig came home from work to tell me one of my bee hives was swarming, so Lillian and I went out to catch it.” This addition of catching a swarm wasn’t the end of their day. She continued the post, “Kraig did a couple passes down the field with the baler before we headed to town for the fireworks.”

Courtesy Photo 4-Hers Abby Ruczynski and Maddox Werda walk in the HPC Credit Union Fourth of July parade held on Friday in Alpena.

Enjoy these photos of very busy agriculturalists on Independence Day.

Courtesy Photo 4D's Farm member Carolyn Dubie and daughter, Lillian, caught a honey bee swarm. This was an emergency farm task while they were trying to make hay.

Courtesy Photo Baling hay on 4D's Farm in Wilson Township.

Courtesy Photo A swarm of bees leave their original hive.