the winter wheat and rye have taken something of a pounding from the weather in the last few weeks...
that has not stopped them from ripening...and since it has been dry for a few days...
i decided it was a viable time for a harvest...so i cut the grain...
and tied it into sheaves...
the wheat sheaves are shorter than last season because of the drubbing...however they are no less full...and there is one more of them this season because ( since we are dealing with thirty-two square foot beds ) i planted more square footage in wheat than rye this year since my bread-making experience has taught me rye bread really does not use that much rye flour, so it made sense to go heavier on the wheat...after i stacked the sheaves i went back and collected the loose ears of wheat and rye to use as seed in september...i may augment those with some purchased organic seed...i also purchased some field peas to plant as a cover crop for a few weeks until i turn them under for the next grain planting...
i had planted potatoes in these beds a few years ago...this is the end of the beds' third season of growing grain...and i seem unable to escape having volunteer potatoes in them every year...leggy and not very productive ( although obviously capable of setting tubers to perpetuate the beds' nightshade population ) they seem destined to be part of the grain landscape here...so be it...i will dig them when they die back and i will doubtlessly miss tubers...and on the subject of tubers...
these two container spuds had clearly finished so i pulled them...
and got a pound of michigan blues and red pontiacs...the small ones will go in the seed bin and the larger will end up as part of someone's meal...lunch from the back yard.
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