Harvest Time

Just before lunchtime today I could hear a combine harvester at work in the field behind our house…but, by the time we had finished our lunch, it had all gone quiet.

Normally it takes at least a couple of hours to harvest the field. So I popped out to see what was happening…only to see the machine sitting idle in a corner of the field….the farmer told me that it had broken down (a belt inside had dislodged) and a mechanic was trying to fix it.

Eventually it got going again and I walked to the far end of the field to get a head on shot. Behind the harvester is a tractor and trailer ready to collect the stored wheat, which it did on the next run away from where I stood.

The farmer was saying that so far this year it has not been good…first of all they were unable to sow in a lot of fields because of the rain, then a lot of fields had large patches of failed seed as they got waterlogged. Coupled with a dire price that they are getting at market, he is having a rough time.