It's that lovely time of year again......harvest, the period of time when we can all be thankful that the sun has shined and that the rain has fallen in adequate amounts to produce the crops that will be cut, dried and stored to last us through the year to come. I suppose living in the country I am more aware of this period of time then those who do not see, hear and smell it on an annual basis. You only have to drive out of town on a dry day to see the dust clouds rising and the farmers hard at work. It must be tough being a farmer at this time of year (or farmer's wife even), to have to work day and night without much of a break to get the work done. Do we give a thought to this at all when we consume our daily bread or munch our cereal products? I suspect not. The supermarket has detached us from having much awareness of our food. How many of us know what foods are in season and where foods are grown? It's all there and available for us to buy without much thought.
Tuesday we heard the roaring of the combine in the fields and just had to take a hike to find it and experience for ourselves the climax of the farmers year. We do it every year and it does have a certain excitement about it. The farmers wait until we've had a dry period and then work like mad to get the crop in.
The whole process is really well planned. The combine drives up and down the field until his hold is full then a tractor and corn cart run along side, at which point a long arm moves sideways from the combine and deposits its load into the cart. The cart then drives off to empty its load in large bays where it will be stored and then dried in huge driers and then stored again for use throughout the year.
I love it!!!
On this occasion barley was being harvested, I haven't noticed oats near to us but the wheat is still out there so harvest is still in the early days.
Life in the country is always so exciting, so much to see and do and always ever changing with the seasons and the weather. Our walk back from the field was packed with entertainment too.
Firstly there was the 'treasure field'.......
Look at all those precious gems left behind in times past but rich in interest and fuel for the imagination of young and old alike. There is a lot of broken pottery and old bones in one field. It was probably used as an old bottle dump before rubbish collection. We've found quite a few of these dumping grounds in our time and they are all packed with interesting things.
Then there was the joys of the common puddle....!
Check out those little ladies who thoroughly enjoyed stomping around and launching great dollops of mud at everyone. I had to get them to roll on the grass to coax the main of it off before coming inside, they also stripped off and hosed themselves down.
I was thinking about the modern child and how prim and proper we often expect them to be and then I felt really saddened by the whole thought. Why should it matter that they completely plaster themselves in thick oozy mud? Well it shouldn't, it's just us who feel slightly annoyed by the work involved in cleaning their clothes and the prospect of mud that may be tracked into our homes. So much can be learnt through such frolicking and it's fun too!
So go out there and let them play, join in yourselves....go on it's fun!!!!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
No comments:
Post a Comment