four hundred and seventy-eight ears

i took the sheaf of winter rye i grew in the community garden out of the basement and on to the patio to cut the ears off the stems in anticipation of the joys of threshing and winnowing grain...some were bigger, some were smaller..all four hundred and seventy-eight have varying degrees of grain that will all be threshed and winnowed prior to being ground into rye flour..it is a process that will take a few days unless i am motivated to sit down and work it straight through....it's along holiday weekend and we may have yield results soon...it is a chore..the rye has been artificially selected...for ears that resist shattering...there will be resistance...it will, however, be infinitely easier to do than the wheat will be...that is towards the end of the month..it is ripening and there is much more of it...i am finding volunteer stands all over the yard ( last photo ) i must have dropped some seed last autumn.