See, I wasn’t kidding! Check this out! If you bale hay wet, it will COMBUST!

When hay is baled, it must be baled dry and then stored dry, or a bizarre phenomenon, called hot hay phenomenon, can occur. Basically what happens is this:

• Wet hay is baled and stored.
• A chemical reaction occurs like in a compost pile.
• The warm damp hay allows bacteria to grow.
• Bacteria "eats" and decomposes the hay.
• Decomposing lets off heat, sometimes enough heat to cause a FIRE.

It's totally bizarre, but the hot hay will actually burn, FLAMES AND ALL. When you think about a compost pile you totally get it. Grass clippings dirt, food scraps, and fertilizers (manure) are all dumped together in a pile (YUK standards. Out the window). Bacteria, moisture, heat and time all work together to decompose that stuff. Dig into the center of a compost pile and steam will rise. That's the heat being released from the bacteria, moisture and heat working together.

So most people who are really serious about making compost (Martha Stewart geeks and people like that) try to STIR it every once in a while to let off the heat. This is so they don't get a big FIRE that melts their garden clogs. When it's totally black yuppie compost, you don't have to worry any more.

Well, you can't stir a bale of hay. So it just cooks. Using dry hay eliminates the moisture-bacteria thing and heads off the whole problem. Lesson for the day: If you are going to make hay while the sun shines, make sure it's DRY hay so it can't combust. Really, it's actually BURNED PEOPLE'S BARNS DOWN!

Something weird (but different) actually  happened this summer near Traverse City-- up North at the tip of the mitten (get a load of me and my mitten talk!). A farmer stored his corn in the silo as usual, but when he went back in the silo, he got sick. He noticed a strong odor when he opened the door but thought nothing of it. That night he got an awful headache, so bad he had to go to the hospital. When the doctor geeks checked it out, they found out that the super hot summer caused some weird reaction that let off a chemical in the corn.

Tell you what: you THINK what you have to worry about in the country is wild animals and stuff like that. Sounds to me like you really need to look out for the lethal garden crops!!!