Work

A 1930’s era hay rack leans into a prairie morning. Canon EOS XSi EF-S 17-85 at 17mm f/9.5 1/200 ISO 400

Cecil walked slowly from the field.  There was an ache in his shoulders, a special ache that only arrived during haying when 14 hours of pitching bundles up to the rack had slowed him to the point of exhaustion.  He turned and looked back.  The old hay rack was on its last legs and he would have to build a new frame for it.  He looked down and kicked at a clump of dirt in the stubble, it crumbled into dust.  It was very dry again this year.  It was at these times that he felt the weight of the responsibility for his family as heavily as the work that he had just demanded of his shoulders.  This was not going to be an easy year.  Cecil turned again and walked back towards his truck.

I took this photo at a 1930’s haying festival in north eastern Alberta.  The people at this festival demonstrate how their work was done in the ’30’s and I was reminded again of how hard the people who built this country worked.  I grew up on the prairies and my early life was permeated with farm culture.  They are a special breed and I feel honoured to have known many of them.

-Russell Berg