Where Macaroni Comes From

As I said, the harvest was rolling in nicely.  There had been some hail damage due to earlier storms, but overall there were some still some moderately optimistic farmers about (farmers never get fully optimistic, moderately optimistic is as good as it gets).  The peas had suffered some loss to hail damage but were in.  The lentils had been a but flattened by heavy rains but with a steady eye and hand in the combine they were rolling in nicely too.

 

Sometimes my non-farm friends ask questions about how stuff gets to where, so here is a picture that illustrates it nicely.  The combine picks up the grain and stores it in the hopper, which when full gets dumped into a truck, which then drives it to a storage bin (or to a buyer) via a long loader that scoops the grain from below the trailer and drops it through the hole in the top of the bin.  Now normally the combine is in the field, the truck comes to the combine...but this picture captures the combine following the already full semi back to the yard as the last lentil had been harvested from that field. This would make more sense with a sharpee, arrows, and a few letter wouldn't it?

 

The lentils were done, and so it was off to the next crop -- durum.  And what do we use durum for?  Pasta mostly!  Most of the durum in Canada ends up in Italy...they do some bread making with it too, but durum has a low gluten content so it is normally mixed with other grains if used in North American breads.  So if you ever wondered where your Mac and Cheese comes from, think Canadian farmers!

This is where your macaroni comes from

Here's what durum looks like at a distance.  I caught this moment of peaceful skies and gentle winds sweeping along the rolling hills, making slow moving waves of durum.

And as sun set, the semi's and loaders were poised for another busy tomorrow.

I am sure there is some old sailor warning about when skies are just a little to calm, a little too bright.  That's what I saw on this evening, exceptionally crisp skies, with thin ribbons of clouds.

Combine lined up and ready to go the next morning

It looked like we would have clear weather and still long days to complete the harvest.  I was just smitten by the way the skies were lighting up as the sky transitioned to dusk. And then I made the non-farmer mistake of being fully optimistic that it would be smooth sailing this harvest.