Bringing in The Sheaves

In the little clapboard church I attended as a girl we used to sing with great gusto the hymn, “Bringing in The Sheaves.” As a farmer’s daughter I knew what this meant, even though my dad’s wheat was harvested by an itinerant mechanical combine crew. Never did I expect to see wheat formed into sheaves the backbreaking old-fashioned way.

Last fall I noticed that lush rows of green grass were growing in our neighbor’s garden. It looked like wheat to me, but I assumed that Darrell was growing it to till under as green manure for soil enrichment.

This spring the wheat kept growing. It formed heads and began to turn a lovely golden color. Last week Darrell, with the help of his brother-in-law, began the harvest.

He used not a scythe, but a special attachment to his Troy-Bilt tiller. One row at a time the machine cut the stalks and laid them to one side.

After each row was cut, the men gathered the stalks into loose bundles,

Laid the bundles in a row,

And tied the bundles into sheaves. (See what I mean about back-breaking work?)

Finally the men formed the sheaves into shocks, also called stooks.

After the shocks have fully dried, Darrell will use a flail to beat the grain loose from the straw. Finally he will winnow the chaff from the grain. Organic flour ground from this wheat will provide the family’s bread for the coming year.

Is that cool, or what?

*Here's link to a You Tube video of farmers shocking wheat: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvUsdvCda04

Copyright 2013 by Shirley DoThis spring the wheat was smer