Donna over at The Farmers Wife just drew my attention to this, which lots of you may have already seen. Got to love what some farmers can do with a flowery boogie board, drench containers and some wet King Gee Style workwear.... Click here to see.
It is also worth checking out Donna's great blog for some photos of just how wet some farmers in the East got this Harvest.
Showing posts with label Harvesting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harvesting. Show all posts
December 22, 2010
December 16, 2010
The End of Harvest
This is a picture of one of our headers.
You will note that it is not going up and down a paddock. This is because we finished harvest at 2.44am this morning. Yay and double yay!
The headers have been brought into the sheds to be blown down, cleaned and serviced. Then we will park them in the shed. Until next year....
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| Header, Parked |
The headers have been brought into the sheds to be blown down, cleaned and serviced. Then we will park them in the shed. Until next year....
December 13, 2010
A Harvest Update For Monday Morning
Our harvest is still ongoing. We are onto the wheat which is our final grain crop. We are pretty excited as hopefully we will finish in a week or so which will be just in time for Christmas. Yay!
There has been a bit of a mishap recently though. One of our header drivers hit a rock that was hiding in the crop. This has resulted in the front bit of the header becoming bent. The front bit if the header is called the header front (sometimes farming is not rocket science). Now our header front is crooked. This is Not Good. The front is the bit of the header that actually cuts the crop. Having a bent header front is a similar situation to a header having its wingy bits out. Basically it means the header can't be used until it is fixed.
Here is a photo of the bent front at our workshop. It is kind of hard to see but the bottom line (above the yellow trailer) is not straight at all. Fortunately we have been able to get someone who will come and bend it back again.
As I have already shown you all lots of photos of headers, I thought it was about time to show everyone the actual crop. In this photo you can see the heads of wheat. These are the bits that contain the grains of wheat.
Here are the grains of wheat.
This wheat is a special type. It has the correct level of protein to be made into noodles. It is called noodle wheat (like I said, not always rocket science). It will be exported into Asia.
You can see in the photo below where our headers have been in comparison to where they haven't.
So there you go. A quick update on our harvest to brighten up everyones Monday morning!
There has been a bit of a mishap recently though. One of our header drivers hit a rock that was hiding in the crop. This has resulted in the front bit of the header becoming bent. The front bit if the header is called the header front (sometimes farming is not rocket science). Now our header front is crooked. This is Not Good. The front is the bit of the header that actually cuts the crop. Having a bent header front is a similar situation to a header having its wingy bits out. Basically it means the header can't be used until it is fixed.
Here is a photo of the bent front at our workshop. It is kind of hard to see but the bottom line (above the yellow trailer) is not straight at all. Fortunately we have been able to get someone who will come and bend it back again.
 |
| Header Front, Bent |
As I have already shown you all lots of photos of headers, I thought it was about time to show everyone the actual crop. In this photo you can see the heads of wheat. These are the bits that contain the grains of wheat.
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| Heads of Wheat |
Here are the grains of wheat.
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| Grains of Wheat |
You can see in the photo below where our headers have been in comparison to where they haven't.
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| Paddock, Left Side Still In Crop, Right Side Harvested |
So there you go. A quick update on our harvest to brighten up everyones Monday morning!
December 7, 2010
Utes, Rainy Days and A Very Rich Cake
We are well into Christmas Party Season here at The Farm. Before I got married and moved to the country, December consisted of high heels, marquees and way too much champagne. The social whirl that is Christmas Party Season on The Farm is no less taxing.
We kicked off last week with Farmgirl's child care Christmas Party. It ticked all the boxes. There were things like red sausages and cupcakes. Santa came and everyone got a bag of lollies.
Santa arrived in our local fire ute.
(For those readers who are not Australian, what we call a "ute" is usually called a "pick up". In Australia a "pick up" is what a single young farmer is trying to achieve when he heads to the pub on a Friday night.)
A ute is an excellent transport choice for Santa. Practical, all terrain and reliable. I know from personal experience that you can do lots of kilometres in a Landcruiser Ute, no worries at all. This a great feature if you are planning an around the world trip. A good ute is also a comfy choice. They even make ones with air con, which would be a handy extra if you were wearing a red, fur lined suit.
We have several more parties to come, including The Official Farm Christmas Dinner for all our staff. It will be held at a local restaurant. Then we will have my work party. Same restaurant. (It is only a little town...)
Our harvest is held up at the moment by the weather. There was a cool change and it rained yesterday It was a glass of red wine rain. When our crop is wet it can't be harvested. Today has dawned bright and clear however, so hopefully things will dry up quickly.
Fortunately the rain doesn't look to have done any damage. Many farms in NSW and Victoria have lost their entire crop to rain. This is a so sad. It is awful to get your crop so far into the season and then lose it (and any chance of a profit) right at the end.
Farmgirl and I have been holed up in The Farmhouse so we don't get wet. To fill in time we made Ree Drummond's Chocolate Sheet Cake. It turned out beautifully. I wimped out on the icing though. I thought it would already be very rich. So I just dusted the top with icing sugar. Sorry Ree, I just couldn't do that much butter. It was still amazing though. I would recommend making this cake - let me know how the icing goes if you do.
It would be super yummy as a pudding if you just warmed it up, added some icecream and some berry coulis.
Enjoy your day everyone.
We kicked off last week with Farmgirl's child care Christmas Party. It ticked all the boxes. There were things like red sausages and cupcakes. Santa came and everyone got a bag of lollies.
Santa arrived in our local fire ute.
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| Practical Transport For Santa |
A ute is an excellent transport choice for Santa. Practical, all terrain and reliable. I know from personal experience that you can do lots of kilometres in a Landcruiser Ute, no worries at all. This a great feature if you are planning an around the world trip. A good ute is also a comfy choice. They even make ones with air con, which would be a handy extra if you were wearing a red, fur lined suit.
We have several more parties to come, including The Official Farm Christmas Dinner for all our staff. It will be held at a local restaurant. Then we will have my work party. Same restaurant. (It is only a little town...)
Our harvest is held up at the moment by the weather. There was a cool change and it rained yesterday It was a glass of red wine rain. When our crop is wet it can't be harvested. Today has dawned bright and clear however, so hopefully things will dry up quickly.
Fortunately the rain doesn't look to have done any damage. Many farms in NSW and Victoria have lost their entire crop to rain. This is a so sad. It is awful to get your crop so far into the season and then lose it (and any chance of a profit) right at the end.
 |
| A Soggy Fence Post, On Our Currently Soggy Farm |
Farmgirl and I have been holed up in The Farmhouse so we don't get wet. To fill in time we made Ree Drummond's Chocolate Sheet Cake. It turned out beautifully. I wimped out on the icing though. I thought it would already be very rich. So I just dusted the top with icing sugar. Sorry Ree, I just couldn't do that much butter. It was still amazing though. I would recommend making this cake - let me know how the icing goes if you do.
 |
| Ree Drummond's Sheet Cake, Minus Icing |
Enjoy your day everyone.
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.
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.
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)
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.
We will keep working away at our harvest. We still have the wheat to go.
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".
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 |
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 |
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 |
 |
| Very Old Cars, With Sunset Added Glamour |
We will keep working away at our harvest. We still have the wheat to go.
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| 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 |
November 10, 2010
Random Thoughts on a Wednesday
This Wednesday is much better than last Wednesday. Yay. The Farmchildren have been well behaved and the day went smoothly. I am also cooking a little lamb roast for dinner and can smell it from here, so this is improving my mood no end.
The weather has changed suddenly as it is raining. It isn't the hot, sultry, summer "gin and tonic" type rain. It is more the cool change, "glass of red wine" type rain. It will slow our harvest up a bit but we are at the stage where a day off will be welcome for everyone. I can hear our workmen on the two-way planning a night at the pub as I write this...
In other, very important, news I have solved the Christmas present wrapping dilemma. The ladies at our local post office have helped me find these.
Yay. They will solve the lost sticky tape on Christmas Eve dilemma. You could even make the presents look good after a couple of glasses of Champagne. This is a challenge that I have failed to meet in previous years.
I have also decided to pass my lovely Cherry on Top blog award to Amanda over at Not a Ballerina. Amanda has a fantastic blog, largely revolving around her experiences both traveling, and working as a travel writer. She is a beautiful writer and her blog is well worth a look. I particularly love her posts about her family holiday to Europe in the 80s. The fashion alone is inspiring.
It is going to be a pretty short post tonight. Sorry all, but there is roast lamb and red wine in the kitchen with my name on it.
Edited to add:
Farmboy's class is running the school assembly on Friday. He entertained us over dinner with their "item" It is a funk/hiphop version of Humpty Dumpty. All in all we have had a lovely evening. Dinner and a show.
The weather has changed suddenly as it is raining. It isn't the hot, sultry, summer "gin and tonic" type rain. It is more the cool change, "glass of red wine" type rain. It will slow our harvest up a bit but we are at the stage where a day off will be welcome for everyone. I can hear our workmen on the two-way planning a night at the pub as I write this...
 |
| Red Wine Rain |
In other, very important, news I have solved the Christmas present wrapping dilemma. The ladies at our local post office have helped me find these.
 |
| Christmas Gift Bags |
Yay. They will solve the lost sticky tape on Christmas Eve dilemma. You could even make the presents look good after a couple of glasses of Champagne. This is a challenge that I have failed to meet in previous years.
I have also decided to pass my lovely Cherry on Top blog award to Amanda over at Not a Ballerina. Amanda has a fantastic blog, largely revolving around her experiences both traveling, and working as a travel writer. She is a beautiful writer and her blog is well worth a look. I particularly love her posts about her family holiday to Europe in the 80s. The fashion alone is inspiring.
It is going to be a pretty short post tonight. Sorry all, but there is roast lamb and red wine in the kitchen with my name on it.
Edited to add:
Farmboy's class is running the school assembly on Friday. He entertained us over dinner with their "item" It is a funk/hiphop version of Humpty Dumpty. All in all we have had a lovely evening. Dinner and a show.
November 1, 2010
Sunday Evening aka Harvesting the House Paddock
Evenings are often my favorite time on the farm. This is because I can take one of these outside.
And enjoy the view.
And enjoy the view.
October 31, 2010
Scary Sunday
Things are back as they should be on the farm The headers are doing this again.
This makes the Farmer happy.
My slow cooker improvisation turned out well. It was really yummy. More importantly everyone ate it, which is the only requirement a recipe needs to get a repeat gig in the Farmhouse kitchen.
Here is the finished product.
The Farm children had a fantastic day because they went to a Halloween Party. One of my closest friends grew up in the US and wanted to share some Halloween traditions, so she threw a party. Everyone had a great day playing games, eating party food and wearing scary costumes. Farmgirl is very excited as she won a bright pink rubber toy snake. It would be scary, if it wasn't so pink.
Obviously we at the farm got our best costumes out for the party. Farmgirl was a super scary baby witch. Farmboy rocked a zombie outfit like a pro. I was told by the Farm children in no uncertain terms that all grown ups needed a costume so I channelled Johnny Depp and went as a pirate.
I feel a bit sorry for the Farm children when costumes are required. I am not crafty. At all. While other children get gorgeous home made costumes mine get the 100% synthetic jobs from Big W.
Anyway we have all had a wonderful day, synthetic costumes and all. I hope you are all having great Sundays too. Wherever you are.
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| Headers Harvesting - Yay |
This makes the Farmer happy.
My slow cooker improvisation turned out well. It was really yummy. More importantly everyone ate it, which is the only requirement a recipe needs to get a repeat gig in the Farmhouse kitchen.
Here is the finished product.
 |
| Slow Cooker Fish Stew |
The Farm children had a fantastic day because they went to a Halloween Party. One of my closest friends grew up in the US and wanted to share some Halloween traditions, so she threw a party. Everyone had a great day playing games, eating party food and wearing scary costumes. Farmgirl is very excited as she won a bright pink rubber toy snake. It would be scary, if it wasn't so pink.
Obviously we at the farm got our best costumes out for the party. Farmgirl was a super scary baby witch. Farmboy rocked a zombie outfit like a pro. I was told by the Farm children in no uncertain terms that all grown ups needed a costume so I channelled Johnny Depp and went as a pirate.
 |
| Baby Witch with witchy broom which unfortunately does not fly (we tried, we failed) |
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| Very, Very Scary Zombie |
I feel a bit sorry for the Farm children when costumes are required. I am not crafty. At all. While other children get gorgeous home made costumes mine get the 100% synthetic jobs from Big W.
Anyway we have all had a wonderful day, synthetic costumes and all. I hope you are all having great Sundays too. Wherever you are.
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