November 27, 2010

Fields Of Gold

This time of year always reminds me of the old Sting song "Fields of Gold".  For the simple reason that we are currently surrounded by them.  I haven't posted about our harvest for a while.  Mainly because I was finding the harvest process a bit hard and trying.   I always hit this point in harvest and then get over the metaphorical hump and on it goes.

We are at the point now where we have almost finished harvesting our barley crop and will move onto our wheat crop.  Hopefully we will finish mid December.  For those of you who came in late, we harvest with a machine we call a header.  To see a photo either click on the word header in the label section or click here.  The headers have been doing their job beautifully and we are getting there.  No more incidents with "wingy bits"

This year we are incredibly grateful to have a half decent crop to harvest.  Many farmers to the east of us had so little rain this year that they have either a very poor crop or none at all.

This harvest we have also baled up our barley straw and will sell it to piggeries.  They will use it for the pigs bedding. This is a good way for us to use what would otherwise be a waste product.

Last night The Farmchildren and I went to deliver The Farmer his dinner.  On the way we passed these bales, all stacked up and ready to go to cushion the pigs.

Bales of Barley Straw, My Shadow
My shadow is such a funny shape because I was wearing an apron.  It had been a busy day and I hadn't had time to change out of my clothes from my day job.  This meant I headed out to the paddock with my husband's dinner in a black top, black and white flared skirt and cute wedges with bows on the toes.  Oh, and an apron.  This was very Stepford of me.  I am OK with having Stepford Wife moments.  For two reasons: 1.  They are few and far between and 2. They are one rung up the ladder from moments of the fishwife variety at least.

Anyway, I digress.  Sorry.

There are lots of these little stacks of barley straw all over our paddocks. Here's some more.

More Barley Straw Bales
I like taking photos on The Farm using the evening light. It makes it all look so much more glamorous.  I am all for finding as much glamour in farming as I can.  The burning midday sun and the dust and flies just don't really cut it in the glamour stakes.

Anyway, I digress. Again. Sorry. Again.

We have been carting most of our harvested barley to the CBH storage facility in town.  This is just a big wheatbin with a weighbridge and stuff.  We have smaller storage type arrangements on The Farm.  Here is a photo of a truck being loaded from our on farm silos (big metal bins for grain storage)

Truck Being Loaded From Glamorous Sunset Type Silos
On the drive to deliver The Farmer his dinner I also saw these cars whilst peaking over the neighbours fence.  They are not ours, but I kind of like them, and so I took a photo.

Very Old Cars, With Sunset Added Glamour

We will keep working away at our harvest.  We still have the wheat to go.

Wheat Crop, Patiently Waiting to Be Harvested


Anyway, I started this post by referring to a Sting song.  I think I will finish with a Slim Dusty number.

Here is my photographic version of "Looking Forward, Looking Back".

Barley Straw Bales, From Car Window

9 comments:

Life In A Pink Fibro said...

I love looking at your pictures and reading about your life. It's all so... farmy. I love the idea of it. But I wonder if I'd ever manage, like you do, to see beyond the flies in the midday sun! You see the magic of it and share it with us. Holdens and all.

TheThingsIdTellYou said...

That picture of the old holdens, oh the memories that brought rushing back to me. Things I've not thought of in years. My grandparents lived on a few acres(not a farm) but there was a big shed and several old (OLD) cars, including my Dad's beloved late 1930s De Soto which he was dreaming of fixing up.

Lol-ing at the glamourous light.

Mel @ Coal Valley View said...

Hi FW, I'm new to blogging and was actually going to introduce myself after reading your post from yesterday. I'm a lover of all things farming related and I love your blog! And if I was around at the time of this post I would have commented :-) Lovely Lovely photos!

Tenille @ Help!Mum said...

I agree, afternoon light is magical. I drive past a field of cows on my way home from work, and I'd love to remember to stop one afternoon to take a few photos.

Anonymous said...

I think my boys would enjoy this post just as much as me. You always manage to describe fairly run of the mill farm business in a fun and interesting way. That couldn't be said of many people's jobs! Great post.

MultipleMum said...

My sisters sang 'Fields of Gold' at our wedding. It is a beautiful song and the landscape in your photos totally do it justice! Such a magnificent life for someone, like you, who can see the romance and beauty beyond all the hard work. Thanks for Rewinding x

Penny's Portraits said...

I love the vastness of some farms, how they seem to stretch out forever. The colours of the wheat crops and sky against each other is such a nice balance too.
I linked up a farm post too for the rewind this week - about my dad's farm, his is a very hilly one though.

Anonymous said...

I love that song so much - I think of it quite often, and those beautiful lyrics. Love the pictures - it just gives so much of the feel of the land. Popping in from The Rewind.

Charis said...

Lovely photographs.. the colours are gorgeous.