Still Here

     Even though it's well into harvest time, just as many crops (if not acres) still remain. 

     The root and bulb crops still remain. They'll keep growing as long as the season permits. These beets soak up a lot of sun, as do the potatoes and any onions that haven't started into their dormancy yet.

     Corn is still waiting to be cut. Some fields, like this popcorn-seed field are just finishing up, while field corns can still be growing.

     And of course there's always hay. Hay fields start before and finishes after any other crop. (Unless, perhaps, you want to consider a pasture a field.)
     While these stragglers are still growing, it won't be long until I'm able to do a post on their harvests. I hope you as excited to read about them as I am to share them with you.

Alfalfa Again

     Most of the alfalfa seed is harvested. So what happens to it now? Well, alfalfa is a perennial, which means it will keep coming up year after year. And while you can't leave it indefinitely, the plants that are staying around for next year are quite recovered.

     Another benefit of being a perennial is that you can plant alfalfa in the Autumn! But first, there's some ground work to do...

     First of all, the ground is dry and hard, so it needs a good shot of water.

     Then the ground needs worked and turned with various pieces of equipment.

     Then corrugates can be put in. The quicker all this is done, the better, because the longer the alfalfa is irrigated the bigger the boost it gets for next year.

     Finally the seed can be planted. It's not just alfalfa or perennials that you can do this with. Wheat often gets planted in the fall despite being neither of the aforementioned. Other crops, like corn will just die.
     It's a never ending cycle, farming. But it's got no definite starts and finishes. Planting and harvesting coincide and then happen individually at any given time of the year. Knowing when is all part of the expertise that makes a farmer successful or not.

Rolling Onions

     The onions are coming up on the end of their cycle, just like all the other crops.

     The problem is that they don't do it uniformly. While some are drying out already, others are still growing.

     So in comes the Onion Roller. There are many complex implements that are used on farms. This, is not one of them. It's a big heavy roller and nothing else. (I suppose there are those discs and points, but those are just to keep the corrugates clear.)
     The roller breaks the base of the leaves from the bulb so that the plant will go dormant. When the plant is dormant then it's time to harvest. Interesting note: If left too long the bulbs will sprout new leaves and grow again. Generally this wouldn't happen till next spring, though.

    
     Rolling the onions is just one of many steps in the impending onion harvest. (And it leaves fun lines in the field.) I'll keep you posted on as many of the others as I can fit in.

Autumn For Bees

     Not long ago these houses were very active little hubs. But today, You won't find many bees at all.

     An old bee warms herself in the sun. She's a few months old, which is pretty old for a leafcutter bee. Her wings are tattered and worn. She stretches them slowly. Perhaps they can carry her to one more day of work.

     Most of the others of her generation have died. Other than herself and a few others that hang on, the entire species is now growing in their cells. Eggs for now.

     The flowers are mostly gone, their purpose fulfilled. Soon the bee will join them. All the labor, all the industriousness so that the next generation might thrive. Being thankful is most likely beyond a bee's cognition. Perhaps then, we can do it for them.

Alfalfa Seed Harvest

     It's time to harvest the alfalfa seed. (Actually it's already close to being finished. That'll teach me to go on vacation.)

     Alfalfa harvest goes fairly similar to wheat harvest, though there are some differences. The seed goes into boxes and you have to dodge bee houses.

     Pulling them out of the fields would damage the dry alfalfa and knock a lot of seeds to the ground. After all the see is cut around them, they can then be pulled forward and the seed that was under them can then be cut.

     This is what it's all about. Alfalfa seeds (as I'm sure you can see) are very small, but there are lots of them. Being so small it's quite difficult to get all the gunk out of them.

     So off they go to the seed company, who will remove everything that isn't an alfalfa seed.
     After they're cleaned, these seeds will be shipped all over the place to grow alfalfa hay and more alfalfa seed. The most tangible way a consumer will be affected by the alfalfa harvest (and market) is through milk and meat from cattle that were fed with alfalfa hay. It's all part of the same process of feeding the world. So enjoy your food, somebody worked hard to get it to you!