Monday, July 30, 2012

Wheat harvest

Today the farmers who rent 50 acres of our land came to combine the wheat...


I went out with my camera and took lots of photos. I think wheat is the most beautiful crop around here.




I wonder where this will eventually end up? In a loaf of Wonder Bread? Or a Montreal baguette?



Harvesting wheat is  a dusty business.



I love the stripey fields. The lighter-coloured stripes are the wheat stalks that will be baled into straw tomorrow.


The tractor in front was ferrying wheat to the big truck up by the road...


There's a lot of wheat in our front field.





The combine also deposits the wheat directly into the truck.



This combine holds a lot of grain.


I am fascinated by all the farm equipment around this area. I would just like to own and drive a small tractor some day.



Beautiful wheat in the sun. It was 31C today and very hot. Good thing the combine harvester has air conditioning!



I also realized that the west side of our metal roof is due for a paint job.



The sky was pretty over the wheat fields.







We are officially in drought conditions here, but the wheat was planted back in March and has done extremely well. And compared to what's going on in the US, it could be a lot worse. There's a hay shortage and the corn is stressed, but other crops are coming along okay. We'll see how the soy and otebo beans in our back fields do this season.

I'll miss seeing the hay waving in the fields now that it's cut!

16 comments:

  1. Excellent account of harvesting wheat from a very critical eye. The prairies have long been wheat country but things have changed in the last 50 years. So much is the same there as here. Here we do silage first then barley, then what and canola.

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    1. Thanks Red! I guess wheat isn't where the money is now, so fewer farmers are growing it. It's such a lovely crop to look at in the fields.

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  2. There is something so primal about planting and harvesting wheat, especially since people have been doing it for thousands of years. It is wonderful to watch, and like you, I am fascinated by the tractors and equipment modern farmers have (I can't keep track of all the tractors my dairy farmer neighbour has). Love your pictures of the wheat and the field.

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    1. Thanks Evlyn! I was so glad to have wheat there this year instead of soybeans!

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  3. You're starting to sound like a farm-girl, Natalie. I bet you couldn't imagine yourself in the city again. Your photos are beautiful, as usual.

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    1. I think I can guarantee I won't live in a city again. :) Thanks, Deb.

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  4. Canadian wheat is the best in the world according to my Dad..he used to be a chef (speciality...pastry chef)so he knows his flour.
    Could you imagine how long it would take to harvest that field using the old hand methods?!
    Jane x

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    1. Your Dad was a PASTRY CHEF?!?! SOunds wonderful!!!! My Dad was a salesman. I remember he once brought home a paper dress in the 70s, but that was about the most exciting by-product. Ooh, did you get lots and lots of eclairs? ;)

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  5. A story we can't even register when we pass on the road. The pictures and descriptions are wonderful.

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    1. Thank you Joanne! I find it all so fascinating but to the people around here who grew up farming, it's all in a day's work!

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  6. I agree with Joanne: "The pictures and descriptions are wonderful."

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  7. Beautiful pictures. Amazing place we live in :)

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  8. Beautiful pictures!!!

    Hugs
    Elna

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Thank you for all your comments, which I love to read!