After weeks of frequent - and needed - rain, the weather around Nashville has been warming up and dry for several days now - which makes it the perfect time to make hay.

Everyone has heard the phrase "Make hay while the sun shines." It's used to encourage people to take advantage of opportunities, to save for that legendary rainy day, or generally to be industrious and not waste time.

It wasn't until I moved to Tennessee 25 years ago that I learned where the phrase "make hay while the sun shines" originated. Like so much in farming, haying depends on the happy coinciding of several factors. The grass has to be fairly mature - tassels ripening but not so ripe that the blades of grass are starting to die and droop. the grass needs to be dry when cut to get the most efficient cutting - if you've ever mowed early in the morning you know how dew-drenched grass clogs blades.

Then the cut grass has to dry some before being baled - if it rains after you've cut it, you have to let it dry out. Again, this is to reduce the chance that mold will develop, which would ruin the hay.

Typically, hay is made when the weather is warm; if farmers are lucky, the rain will hold off while they cut in the spring, then come back often enough so they can get a second cut later in the summer - when of course they want dry weather. If you live someplace with a predictable climate, there's less pressure to complete the job asap. Here in the South, where sudden thunderstorms can pop up on hot, humid afternoons, we don't have that kind of leisure. When it's time to make hay, it's an all-out process.

The last couple of years have not been great for hay - drought precluded most second cuttings, so the price went up. The price of fuel for tractors also rose, adding to the price of hay. The wilting economy put even more pressure on folks who needed hay for livestock. My fingers are crossed for a better summer this year for making hay.

Speaking of haymakers - the hard punch swung with everything you have - got its name from the action of cutting hay with a scythe. We have one of those implements in the barn - a reminder of a time when muscle power alone did everything. I cannot imagine spending days swinging a scythe to cut hay, then raking it into windrows and heaping it in stacks or ricks. By the end of that process, you would be ready for a month of rain just so you could stop.