Shortly after graduating from college, I spent the better part of four years living on a horse farm in rural Southwestern Pennsylvania. In addition to working as a national account manager for the 84 Lumber Company, I spent my spare time mucking stalls, feeding horses, mending fences, and making hay on the farm in exchange for rent. The digs were modest but the beer was free, and every Sunday the owners would invite me up to the big house for a home-cooked meal. Most of the work was hard on the back but easy on the schedule. It was generally a nice routine, except for the summer hay season, because when the sun is shining you drop EVERYTHING and make hay.
For those not familiar with the idiom at hand, let me explain. Making hay is a three-step process: cutting, drying, and baling. Square bales, in particular, require near perfect weather conditions during the period of time from cutting to putting it up in the barn. If the hay is too wet when it is baled, it can mold during storage, or even worse, spontaneously combust causing a fire in the barn—neither of which is a desirable outcome. Consequently, when the hay fields are ready and the weather is right, the farm turns into an impressive and efficient production with one goal in mind: get as much hay in the barn as possible before the next rain. Hence the saying, “make hay when the sun shines.”