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.

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.

Heads of Wheat

Here are the grains of wheat.

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.

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!

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