Scenes From Farm Country

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Last week my brother-in-law harvested the soybeans across the road from our house. Little did he know his workday would be fodder for my little corner of the blogosphere.

 But by now, anyone who knows me knows that I have a camera and I'm not afraid to use it, so since he's family and he was within a hundred yards of my front door, I figured all this field work was fair game.

Plus, I wasn't the only one who was interested.

Honestly, I don't think we've had this much free entertainment for quite some time. Eventually, we just packed up and headed outside to sit and watch.

I'm going to try to explain this as accurately as I can. But I'm really not all that knowledgeable about all this farming stuff. Even though I've lived in farm country for the majority of my life, most of what I understand about how it all works I have learned in the past year. And what I've learned in the past year, I've learned some of through my children, a three-year-old and two-year-old who know more about farming than I do.

I'm just sayin'.

First of all, this...

...THIS... is a combine. (Kahm-byne.)

Combines are huge.

Combines are monstrous.

Combines are a force of nature.

I have no idea why they're called 'combines', and I'm not going to try to guess, but I can tell you with certainty this much... Around here, they're used for harvesting soybeans and corn. To do this, different 'heads' are mounted onto the front of the combine. A 'corn head' for corn, and a 'bean head' for beans, quite sensibly named.

This is a bean head...

It's hard to tell in this picture, but the bean head is sitting on a trailer in front of the combine. This is how they transport it down the road, because if it were attached to the combine while driving down the road, it would take out every vehicle in its path.

Capeesh?

The combine drives up to the bean head...

 ...and then hooks on...

...and off we go!

Or off 'they' go, I guess I should say. I'm really not involved.

Next, the combine trucks off into the field, there is a lot of spinning and whirring and such, and basically it looks like the combine gives the crops a buzz cut. What goes on inside there, is very far beyond my understanding, or lack thereof, so I really can't tell you how all this comes about. However, eventually, the soybeans (or corn) can be seen piling up inside of the black, funnel-looking thing at the top...

...called the 'hopper'.

I know this because Little Blue Eyes told me so.

Next comes the semi...

The semi with the happy driver.

How do I know he's happy? Because he honked at my kids. "Honk if you're happy!" Isn't that how the saying goes?

So, the happy semi driver arrives, and when the combine starts to get full, they swing out the auger and pour the beans/corn into the semi.

When the semi is filled up, they drive it to the elevator in one of the local towns, where the grain is unloaded, then stored or shipped off to greater horizons, whichever the case may be.

And as spectators, we're left in the dust and aftermath to ponder our own horizons, and look forward to harvests to come.

Comments

[maesa]

great pics! Little Blue Eyes looks like he's ready to be in a poster like, "You Been Farmin' Long?"

[Tauna]

That was most interesting, and I'm a farm girl!
Cute pix of the littles.
That swath on the combine is HUGE!!!!