The time leading up to the Summer solstice is the time for making hay here in Mallorca. Now we can find many fields in the island’s landscape harvested with the hay being rolled up into neat bales.

In most Northern European countries the season for making hay would be some six weeks later than here in the Mediterranean basin. The difference is that here in the South, corn or wheat or simply grass can be harvested twice a year, first at the beginning of May and then again at the end of September.

The bales of hay are either used by the owner of this field as feed for his own grazing animals (cattle, sheep, horses or mules) or else be sold as fodder for the livestock of farmers in the neighborhood.

The photo was taken near Campos del Port, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: May 19th, 2009. The time was 18:50:39.