My Everything Corner

It is warm and dry and our normal winds seem to have returned. There was not even a drop of dew on the lawn this morning.  Perfect harvest weather -yep, just how the farmers like it.   Mainly the fields in this area are seeded with wheat and canola.  But you will also find oats, barley, peas, fava beans and flax, although I've heard that our family is the only one in the area to grow flax.    Growing up, my Grandpa and Dad only ever grew wheat.  At least, that's all I can remember and it is my favourite crop through every season.  I'm especially fond of the bearded varieties. It's the texture and the way it moves with the wind, and in the fall, it's the colour. Nothing beats that golden hue, especially in the right sunset. It moves me every time.  I find it amusing, how the right colour can stir the soul.    

Harvest is currently at a standstill.  Cold and rainy weather have left farmers to take a much needed rest.  No, they really didn't want that rest yet, and it's difficult to relax completely when there are still crops in the field.  Short of being a poker player, I'm not sure there is an occupation that is a bigger gamble than farmer.  Mother Nature is a fickle creature.  Hopefully she turns off the taps soon, dries her eyes and allows us back into the fields to take off the rest of the oats and flax. A beautiful sky shot!  The haze in the field is the dust from the combines. Normally, we would just drive the grain truck right to the combine, but the fields were too wet this year. So we used the tractor and grain cart to empty the combine, then it was transferred to the truck, which is then driven to the yard to unload, and then back to field.  Repeat.  Many, many times. Unloading the grain is done as quickly as possible, then ...

With the colder than usual Spring, and the flooding at the end of June, we lost a good portion of our growing season, no less than 3 weeks is my guess.  Most of my pumpkins and gourds are well behind schedule, several weeks before they can be picked and expected to ripen.  The only thing to do is to hope that Mother Nature is feeling generous with the warm weather this Fall, and that we don't get a killing frost until at least the end of the month.  That's not what the forecast is calling for, but I really can't remember a time when the forecast has been accurate, (crossing fingers). Out of the 9 varieties of pumpkins and gourds, only the sugar pumpkins and the gremlin gourds are mature enough to pick, so we plucked off 71 of them and lined them up on our deck to sit in the sun and ripen.  It usually doesn't take long for them to slip into their orange skins once they've been fully exposed. Here are some photos of a few of the patches with my...