Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Farm to Fork, Harvest Report Days 8-12

What we grow (along with the rest of the USA farmers) will end up in some version on your dinner plate.... so come along and read how one farm family is growing some of the food you and your family will eat

Long days mark the harvest season, so as Farmer Joe heads out the door to meet the rest of the farm crew, we, in the Northwest, are aware that we have been extremely blessed with abundant rains and we have crops to harvest.  Our hearts go out to our fellow Ag partners who have been affected by the unfavorable weather.

Here is what has happened in the last few days since we chatted... the mechanic was out last Friday and after a 4 hour service call, a simple fix was done on a few loose bolts that was causing the combine monitor to alert the driver that something was not okay.  Whew, that was a relief and so far the rest of the days have been going along smoothly and unproblematic (no fires, no breakdowns, no crazy weather).  =) 

Here Farmer Joe explains that we did some of our own "test plots" with some different kinds of fertilizer and will compare how they yield to see which one worked the best and we will then use that formula for next year's planting. Click here if problems viewing the videos.


We have finished winter wheat and Farmer Joe took a quick video (below).  If you listen carefully you can hear one of the "Star Wars" sound effects that I was talking about earlier, this is what it sounds like as the combine gets ready to unload the wheat into the grain cart.  This is just one of the sound effects and I'll see if more can be recorded. 



Next we are working on Barley fields. Just the mention of that crop makes me think back to when I drove grain truck and no matter how tightly you closed the windows to the 2 ton trucks- that the chaff would somehow seep in and barley dust is very  itchy. The worst was getting the mornings first load of barley dumped into your truck... so yup, you guessed it, you were itchy then all day. In today's harvest scenario, the tractor drivers don't have that problem as the tractor cabs have much better seals to keep fine chaff and dust out.

Oh, I did try out the Lemon Coconut bars and all I can say is yummm. You can find this easy tempting treat on OMG Dessert page.  It only took about 10 minutes to make if that, not counting the baking part. 
Lemon Coconut bars, good and easy

And on that sweet note of tempting you with an easy dessert, I'll be bringing you more on how the Anderson Farm harvest is going.  As always, drop me an email at idahofarmwife@gmail.com or leave a comment.  All my best, Gayle.