We are happy to share Corinne Gordons report on wheat processing at Carter Historic Farm as part of our last posting regarding our wheat year:
After cutting and shocking our wheat in the first half of July this year, two weeks later we loaded our dried wheat bundles onto wagons.
Loaded wagon of wheat bundles. The clover that was planted in spring has come up, and will grow quickly now without the wheat shading it.
At the end of July we threshed the wheat, using our thresher. The bundles of wheat are forked from the wagon into the machine, where the grain is removed from the stalk. The grain pours out a spout on one side into a wagon, and the stalks, or straw, are blown out a tube on another side.
A belt running from our Massey Harris tractor powered the threshing machine.
Wheat bundles get tossed into the threshing machine.
A wagon-load of wheat!
After the threshing was completed, we used a stationary baler to bale up the straw. Because we use corn fodder for bedding, we were able to sell the straw.
Straw is forked into the baler, which compresses it and ties it into bales.
A wagonload of stacked straw bales.
In a slight change from previous years, our miller, who usually cleans our wheat, was overbooked this year. Because we needed the wheat cleaned (=random non-wheat bits filtered out) by late September so that we could use some for seed, we bagged the wheat and took it to a different place that just did the cleaning for us.
Bagging wheat to take to the cleaner’s.
When it returned, we used some of that cleaned wheat as seed to plant this fall.
Sprouting wheat.
The rest was eventually brought to the mill, where it was ground into flour, and returned to us last week!
Our farm truck at the Ludwig Mill, at Providence Metropark.
Some of our processed flour.
We sell most of our flour, but use some for our own baking, including making the cookies for our Heritage Holiday event!
Yum!
Text and Pictures:
Corinne Cordon
Carter Historic Farm
