The film “Days of Heaven” involves seasonal farm workers who ride the trains from one large farm to another. I remember scenes of dozens of people harvesting hay with scythes and making bundles in the field. The workers lived in a makeshift community on the farms – eating meals together, singing and dancing. After the harvest, they might go their separate ways or keep traveling together. All sorts of relationships were cultivated among the workers and landowners.

I reflect on that today while watching the local farmer harvest the first cut of hay, riding alone in his big tractor.

Well, he’s probably listening to a podcast, at least...

Things have changed even in the time I’ve lived here. 10 years ago, I worked on the farm, on their hay operation. When it was time to harvest, they’d hire a bunch of young guys to load the hay bales into the barn. Hard work, for a day or two. It must've been an annual tradition.

But that might’ve been the last time they did it. Since then, there’s a machine that bundles the hay into giant round bales, then shrink wraps them. Then another machine loads them onto a truck. Very few workers are required.