Make hay while the sun shines

As I am writing this week’s article the thermometer outside has just reached 33 centigrade. I am sure many of you fair skinned people, like my wife, are hating this hot weather.
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I went out for a meal the other evening, to a pretty country pub and because of social distancing and the weather being so warm we sat out in the garden. Suddenly out of the darkness appeared the glow of several lots of headlights and the noise of three tractors trundling up the road with their trailers full of wheat. I couldn’t help thinking while the pub garden was full of customers enjoying the balmy evening, the poor farmers were still working at ten- o -clock at night.

I remember about forty years ago I would meet a farmer friend of mine after he had finished combining for the day. His face would be black apat from the whites of his eyes, where he had been peering out of his cab all day making sure he had kept his giant machine in a straight line. Fortunately, things have moved on a lot in farming since then. The modern combines are fully enclosed and the more expensive ones have air conditioning with on - board computers to assist the operator. However, the grain still has to be emptied from the combine into a trailer to be taken back to the farm.

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Wheat is probably one of our most important crops and used in one form or another by most of us every day. Apart from bread making, wheat is also used in the production of pasta, biscuits and in our morning cereal. Wheat is very high in starch content and is used to improve the strength of paper. The pharmaceutical industry uses it to create capsules. The glue on the back of the postage stamp you put on your envelopes is created with wheat starch.Wheat germ, which contains lots of vitamin E is commonly used in soaps and creams. Of course when you sit down to eat your fried, scrambled or poached egg, the chances are that the chicken that laid it has been fed on wheat.

Harvest SUS-200808-134245001Harvest SUS-200808-134245001
Harvest SUS-200808-134245001

Despite a lot of us complaining about the scorching sun set to be with us for the next week, it has come at just the right time for the farmers.The rain flattens the wheat and makes it difficult to harvest. The straw left in the field must be perfectly dry to be bailed to make good bedding for the cattle and horses during the long winter months.

Next time you are stuck behind a tractor, slowly making its way back to the farm or one of the giant grain lorries taking the wheat for milling, spare a thought for the farmers who I am sure would far sooner be sitting in the pub garden enjoying a pint, rather than working half way through the night just to make sure we all have bread on our tables.