A time to reap

Though it does not look big, this huge combine, about the size of a small house, is dwarfed in a large field of corn. The combine cuts the corn stalks, separates the ears of corn from the stalk, shucks and separates the corn from the cob, saves the corn, and spits the detritus from the process out the back.

Click on the trucks to see what happened.

It’s harvest time in LA now. The former shimmering green fields are now for the most part brown, shriveled, and loaded with the largess of Mother Nature’s time-proven process. Now it’s a matter of separating the fruit from the vine and moving it into the mainstream of commerce. In these environs, the main crops are rice, corn, soybeans, miscellaneous small grains and a smattering of cotton, listed in order of harvest. We are mainly in the corn and rice harvesting modes now. See even more harvest scenes on the Photo of the Week page at Corndancer dot-com

The combine disgorges its harvested cargo to carts. The tractor driver then moves the cart and dumps its contents into a 18-wheeler trailer. Repeat if necessary until the field is done.

In the Delta, it is not unusual to have a cultivated field as your side, back, or front yard.

Tindall Drier, near Stuttgart, Arkansas, long since outmoded and inactive. still stands as a reminder of farm operations years ago. It is a great historic monument, right up there with old barns.

I’m guessing these Christmas-tree-ornament-like-doodads are to warn off agri-aircraft or discourage birds from perching. Shot near Stuttgart, Arkansas. I’m also betting that a reader will set me straight on the real intentions of these installations.

All too often in rural areas, one sees a sign designating a t-bone road junction alongside a home-made memorial.

Thanks for looking,

Joe Dempsey
Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind

http://www.joedempseycommunications.com/
http://www.joedempseyphoto.com/
http://www.corndancer.com/joephoto/photohome.html

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