There is no opportunity for underage kids to find this kind of work, this kind of socialization. Fields are disappearing. The price of local produce on the market can't compete with the minimum wage. Soon, all hand labor will be mechanized and only the largest operations will survive. And even those large operations can't compete with California.
Housing developments are more lucrative crops.
Yet, there is still the haying. Savor the sweat and dust and sense of accomplishment. Take it all in now, because you are the last of the dinosaurs, soon to be extinct. M.J. Cody is a writer who lives near Estacada. Her travel columns appear regularly in The Oregonian's Sunday Travel section.