Harvest in the Palouse!

 
     It's harvest time all over the United States.  Harvest is an exciting time in every farming community.  It is the culmination of the farmer's entire year's work.  It is when he learns how well his or her plans and methods worked. It is when the farmer receives his paycheck, and hopefully he will have enough to pay his production expenses and be able to care for his family for the coming year.

A deer leaps across a ripened field of wheat.
Photo taken by Wade Lindquist at Bald Butte Ranch.

     Harvest is an intense time for farmers and their families.  There are long days of work.  There is not a minute for anything else - nothing else happens during harvest-time.  It's also a dangerous time for farmers; they're tired and stressed to the max.  They're frequently sleep deprived.  The weather may not cooperate; everything may be ruined by wind or rain coming at just the wrong time.  And, even though they may have maintained and repaired their machinery properly, they may still have equipment breakdowns, right in the middle of long harvest days.

Grain trucks ready to go.
Photo from Todd Strader, T & H Farms.

    

     For our farmers in the Palouse region of eastern Washington, harvest is one long event, beginning in late July and lasting through the middle of September.  They are just finishing harvesting their winter wheat which was planted last fall.  This includes soft white and hard red winter wheat.  They are harvesting their spring crops this week.  These includes the spring wheats - soft white, hard white and dark northern spring wheat.  Next to be harvested will be dry peas and dry lentils, finally followed by garbanzos.

Mark Richter combining wheat on St. John Farm.
The stalk and wheat head are pulled into the wide "header-bar" in the front of the combine.
Then the chaff (stalk and leaves) and wheat kernels are separated.
The chaff is spit out the back (that's the dust you see in the rear),
and the kernels are dumped into the big rectangular bin on top of the combine.

     Many farmers have just one combine, and harvest their own fields.  In other cases, they may share the work with other family members; their fathers, brothers, inlaws or their neighbors.  There may sometimes be more than one combine harvesting one field at a time.

Pumping the wheat kernels from the combine into the grain truck.
Note the two trucks behind, waiting to be filled.
 The wheat will be hauled to the grainery where it will
be sold for breads, pastries and noodles, all over the world!

     The schedule in most every case depends on the planting date and this season's weather.  In nearly every part of our country,  the rainfall is slightly different as one travels north to south.  Typically, the further north you go, the more precipitation you have. This is the case in the Palouse, so that means that the crop was planted earlier in the southern portion of the community, and so is harvested first.  Families and friends who are sharing the work of harvest work together to harvest the fields which "come off," or are ripened, first.

Three combines at work to bring in the harvest.
That's Todd Strader walking in his wheat field

Combines and tractors, all lined up for a
"Harvest is finally over" photo.
Taken on the Todd Strader Farm.
I think this is an especially beautiful picture, what with the sky and all.

    After a long, intense couple of months, the farmer has all his crops into the grainery.   Then he begins planning for next year!

EAT MORE WHEAT AND THANK A FARMER.

Notes From the Palouse

Rolling hills and patchwork farm fields

   
     This past week I visited the farmers who live and farm in the Palouse Region of Eastern Washington state.  This area comprises roughly in the south-east portion of the state, and goes into the panhandle of Idaho.  It is very rich agriculturally, with silty soils and abundant rains, which come during the spring and early summer.

Winter wheat beginning to turn from green to gold.  

     Geologically, the region is made of unusual and beautiful silt-dunes, which were formed during the Ice Age.  They were the result of a glacial outwash, which made huge, random humps and hollows.  I often describe them as endless giant gopher mounds.  The big, open portions of the dunes are cropped fields.  In the gullies and hollows, are timber, brush, creeks, deciduous trees and shrubs.  The combined fields and trees are gorgeous.

See how the cab is level, and the header follows the contour of the land?
This is a self leveling combine.  Pretty helpful.

     You might imagine that it could be dicey attempting to drive a tractor or combine on these steep hillsides.  It is!  The self leveling combine was developed by Washington State University, which is in this region.

      The farmland here is like none other.  Precipitation ranges from 15" to 22" annually, so farmers have no need to irrigate.  The top soil is very deep, ranging from 3' and deeper throughout the Palouse.  Crops are predominantly wheat, barley, dry peas, lentils and garbanzos, with some oats, flax and canola.  Whitman County, in the heart of the Palouse, is the largest grower of Soft White Wheat in the United States.

     The region was settled in the late 1800's by German, Irish and Russian immigrants - you'll hear their surnames all over the Palouse.  Most farms are still being worked by original families - with 4th and 5th generation now tilling the land that their ancestors homesteaded.

Fields with dry peas growing in the foreground

      Harvest is just beginning in the Palouse.  The first crop to ripen is winter wheat (hard red and soft white winter wheats), then dry peas and dry lentils, then the spring wheats (dark northern, hard white and soft white spring wheats), and finally, garbanzos.  Harvest runs from the end of July through September.

     After harvest, farmers plant their fall crop of winter wheat and in some cases, dry winter peas. Also, they prepare fields which will be planted in the spring.  They spray weed killer and incorporate fertilizer in the soil, so that it can work over the winter.  Usually they are done with all their fall work by mid to late October.

Dry peas growing.

     Then, they rest.  They  make repairs and upgrades to all of their equipment.  They go to seminars and conventions which pertain to the crops they grow, or type of farming they practice.   They plan and budget for next season, and talk with their banker, accountant and crop advisors.  They sleep in a little bit, maybe till 7 am or so.  They enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas.  And, if they're lucky, they go on a winter vacation with their families and friends. The farmers of the Palouse know they live in God's country, and they don't take it for granted!

Summer at Sweet Hills Farm

     The weather has really heated up over the past few weeks.  We had several nice, helpful rains the week before last, and now the warm weather has turned on.  Our farmer is irrigating non-stop, and the crops are growing, filling out and maturing.  I've snapped pics of wheat, sugar beets, corn and onion seed, on our farm and our neighbor's farm. (Our farmer farms both places).

The wheat on our place is getting tall,
the heads are filling out, and it is beginning to turn color

The field corn grows a couple of inches each day!

Seed onions - this crop is grown for the seed, which will be  sold to other farmers who will plant it
to produce onions for us to eat.  This photo was actually taken in early May, I forgot to post it.

The seed onions right now - the baby seeds are developing in those heads, or blossoms.
The blossom is the part of the plant which will be harvested.

Bees are brought in to pollinate the seed onion.  There are bees all over the place.

Organic or Not?

This is a great video regarding the debate surrounding organic v. conventional agricultural food production.

Jayson Lusk is a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Oklahoma State University. His website, with blog posts and other information about food economics and the like, can be found here: http://jaysonlusk.com/

All's FAIR!

Ahh, the fair! One of the highlights of the summer, amiright?! The fun carnival rides, the animals, the booths, the shows, the FAIR FOOD! What more could you ask for on a hot summer night? Nothing, that's what!

http://idaho.for91days.com/2012/08/

While most fair attendees are there for the fun, the purpose of the fair is far greater than funnel cakes and fried Twinkies.  Fairs began long, long, loooonnnngggg ago as temporary markets for merchants to come together to sell exotic goods from foreign countries.  They eventually took on a religious tone when the
church would host fairs in conjunct
ion with feast days.

Fried twinkie




The first fair in the Americas took place in 1765 in Windsor, Novia Scotia, and is still taking place today! Agricultural fairs, like the ones that take place around the United States today, were created by Elkanah Watson, from the New England area, by organizing the Berkshire Agricultural Society and creating an event (known then as a Cattle Show) in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in September 1811. It was more than just an exhibit of animals – it was a competition, with prize money ($70) paid for the best exhibits of oxen, cattle, swine and sheep.

By 1819 most counties in the Northeast had organized their own agricultural societies and the movement was spreading into the other states. By the end of the 1800's, almost every state and county was hosting one or more agricultural fairs or exhibitions.

County fairs are held by almost every county in the U.S.A. County fairs are typically smaller and much more agriculturally-focused, with the emphasis on the livestock and 4-H and FFA programs. Most participants must live within the boundaries of that county in order to enter livestock or other items. Additionally, the livestock at county fairs are typically all from 4-H or FFA participants, not from professional or amateur breeders. Regional and state fairs bring together people from across that region or area, and are huge, with lots of great things to see and do! They offer a bigger range of contests, exhibits, shows, and also hold livestock contests for participants not in     4-H or FFA ("open" classes).  The basic elements of those agricultural society events of the early 1800s are at the heart of the over 3,200 agricultural fairs in North America today. Competition for the best agricultural and domestic products of the county or state are held annually at each fair.

Fairs also have an educational purpose, with exhibits, shows, demonstrations and much more.
Special emphasis is placed on educational activities such as 4-H, FFA and similar youth

4-Hers showing their pigs

development programs. They also retain their very origional merchant purpose with booths selling an array of items, food stands, carnival rides, and livestock auctions. Mix all this together and you get an awesome-good time!

Fairs are a great way to learn about farming and agriculture in your state, and to see the wide range of programs and products that are in place to promote agriculture. Fair season is upon us, so use the search tool below to find fairs in your area! You'll have a super-fun time being part of the fair crowd, and if you check out all the exhibits and pavilions, you'll learn some really interesting things to boot!

So, look around your community, and try to find out when is your county or regional fair.  Check it out, go see the pigs and the chickens, the lambs and the kids.  Check out the flower arranging and photo competitions.  Observe and admire the farmers' crop contests - perfect hay bales, beautiful potatoes, giant pumpkins.  Join in a cow milking contest.  See the tractor pull competition and the horse show.  Eat a corn dog with some fresh squeezed lemonaide, and enjoy the American tradition of the country fair!

What do you look forward to at the fair each year?  Please share in the comments!
We'd like to hear about it!

To find a fair in your area, use this handy-dandy search tool: http://www.fairseverywhere.com/


Information for this article was taken from the website of the Internatioal Association of Fairs and Expositions: http://www.fairsandexpos.com/aboutiafe/history/