Amber Waves of Grain

 

I grew up on a wheat field in eastern Washington.  I was recently driving through the area and found these wonderful old beasts just waiting for me to capture them.  

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  1. Al French, sad sack Moderator
    Al French, sad sack
    @AlFrench

    Nice picture.

    My father spent some time in eastern Washington when he was growing up. In his day the combines were pulled by mules. My sister has pictures of it somewhere.

    • #1
  2. Gary McVey Contributor
    Gary McVey
    @GaryMcVey

    OK, Spin, that’s gorgeous. Back in the prehistoric days of my antediluvian youth, we’d get shots like that using a red filter that made the skies darker and the clouds stand out. Of course, you probably did it with an algorithm wrapped inside an app inside of an enigma. 

    • #2
  3. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    Shrub-steppe just northeast of Ellensburg.

    • #3
  4. Bob W Member
    Bob W
    @BobW

    During summers in high school in central Calif. I worked as a “header tender” on pulled combines like this:

    The header tender is the one on the combine and their responsibilities were to adjust the height of the grain cut for good  thrashing (with the wheel he’s holding).  Also since it was very hilly his job was to keep the combine level for  good thrashing and to keep the combine from tipping over, this was done by raising or lowering the wheel on the  opposite side from the header. It got tricky on turns changing directions on a hillside.  We had shade covers on our harvesters (not shown). It frequently got over 1oo sometimes up to 110 with clouds of chaff coming from the cut grain. The first job in the morning was to crawl thru the harvester and grease all the fittings, the grease and the sweat did a good job of attracting the chaff.  We earned our $10 a day

    • #4
  5. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    When we lived in France in the early 60’s, we could look out our back window and see French men and women using pitchforks to throw hay up onto a horse-drawn wagon.

    • #5
  6. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Al French, sad sack (View Comment):
    My father spent some time in eastern Washington when he was growing up. In his day the combines were pulled by mules. My sister has pictures of it somewhere.

    Those aren’t combines being pulled by these horses, but I’m not quite sure what they were. If they were just binders, I’d think the photo would show wheat bundles on the ground, and from both rigs it appears that loose straw is being emitted. But I’ve never seen such an operation in person, and don’t know just how it worked.  

    Anyhow, it was taken in North Dakota in the early 1920s.  When I first saw this photo a few years ago, I guessed from the angles of their hats and postures that the front team is driven by my grandfather’s brother, Carl, and that the other one is driven by my grandfather. I couldn’t make out their faces to verify, even in the hi-resolution scan I made from the medium-format negative, but later found other information that confirmed my guess.  That’s my great-grandmother in a bonnet; she died over 20 years before I was born. 

    The first combines made their appearance in that country not long after; they are still sitting out in a field up in the hills nearby (the Missouri escarpment) along with other old machinery. I don’t know what will happen to all that stuff. The owner died earlier this year and I’m not sure anyone else is interested. 

    • #6
  7. Spin Inactive
    Spin
    @Spin

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    OK, Spin, that’s gorgeous. Back in the prehistoric days of my antediluvian youth, we’d get shots like that using a red filter that made the skies darker and the clouds stand out. Of course, you probably did it with an algorithm wrapped inside an app inside of an enigma.

    Increase contrast, then go monochrome, then add a little grain.  

    • #7
  8. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Spin (View Comment):

    Gary McVey (View Comment):

    OK, Spin, that’s gorgeous. Back in the prehistoric days of my antediluvian youth, we’d get shots like that using a red filter that made the skies darker and the clouds stand out. Of course, you probably did it with an algorithm wrapped inside an app inside of an enigma.

    Increase contrast, then go monochrome, then add a little grain.

    They’re harvesting fake grain? 

    • #8
  9. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Spin:

    I grew up on a wheat field in eastern Washington. I was recently driving through the area and found these wonderful old beasts just waiting for me to capture them.

    I wonder how many city folk saw these and thought aliens had landed . . .

    • #9
  10. Spin Inactive
    Spin
    @Spin

    Stad (View Comment):

    Spin:

    I grew up on a wheat field in eastern Washington. I was recently driving through the area and found these wonderful old beasts just waiting for me to capture them.

    I wonder how many city folk saw these and thought aliens had landed . . .

    Funny.  They reminded me of being a kid.  These gleaners were a bit before my time, we had John Deere combines, but it still took me back to riding in the cab with my dad, the smell of the wheat.  The dust.  

    • #10
  11. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Bob W (View Comment):
    We had shade covers on our harvesters (not shown). It frequently got over 1oo sometimes up to 110 with clouds of chaff coming from the cut grain.

    I can feel that chaff like it was yesterday – a second skin, itchy as hell. Took a hot shower with half a bar of Lava soap to get it off.

    • #11
  12. Spin Inactive
    Spin
    @Spin

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    Bob W (View Comment):
    We had shade covers on our harvesters (not shown). It frequently got over 1oo sometimes up to 110 with clouds of chaff coming from the cut grain.

    I can feel that chaff like it was yesterday – a second skin, itchy as hell. Took a hot shower with half a bar of Lava soap to get it off.

    Lava soap.  We had that on the farm, too.

    • #12
  13. Gary McVey Contributor
    Gary McVey
    @GaryMcVey

    “There’s only one thing that can get these hands clean, Mister…Lava!” (screams as he’s covered in hot lava) Stolen from Mad Magazine circa 1964, always up to date with parodies of TV commercials. 

    • #13
  14. Bob W Member
    Bob W
    @BobW

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    Bob W (View Comment):
    We had shade covers on our harvesters (not shown). It frequently got over 1oo sometimes up to 110 with clouds of chaff coming from the cut grain.

    I can feel that chaff like it was yesterday – a second skin, itchy as hell. Took a hot shower with half a bar of Lava soap to get it off.

    Even though it was very hot I wore a long sleeve shirt all buttoned up and a bandana to try and keep the chaff out. Didn’t work all that well. When I got home mother took one look at  me walking up the drive way and said you’r not coming in the house like that. I had to get undressed in the garage and streak to the bathroom. Became a nightly ritual. 

    • #14
  15. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Bob W (View Comment):

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    Bob W (View Comment):
    We had shade covers on our harvesters (not shown). It frequently got over 1oo sometimes up to 110 with clouds of chaff coming from the cut grain.

    I can feel that chaff like it was yesterday – a second skin, itchy as hell. Took a hot shower with half a bar of Lava soap to get it off.

    Even though it was very hot I wore a long sleeve shirt all buttoned up and a bandana to try and keep the chaff out. Didn’t work all that well. When I got home mother took one look at me walking up the drive way and said you’r not coming in the house like that. I had to get undressed in the garage and streak to the bathroom. Became a nightly ritual.

    One Saturday in high school days my brother and I helped a neighboring dairy farmer with straw baling. I helped a lot with the hay during the summer, but this was October. It wasn’t miserable like all that chaff was, I’m sure. In fact, it was relatively easy work, as straw bales are lighter than hay. But we were black with straw soot by the end of the day.  

    We got home after dark, and Mom was waiting for us at the door. She wouldn’t let us in the house. She handed us clean clothes and told us to go wash in the lake.  So we drove down to Portage Lake, a relatively deep and cool lake at any time of year, and washed by the lights of Dad’s VW Beetle. That was a good way to run down the battery on one of those Beetles faster than it could be recharged, but it didn’t matter, because we were quick about it. Did I mention that this was in north-central Minnesota?   

    Come to think of it, I should check Mom’s diaries to see if she makes mention of it, and to see if it was really as late as October.  

    • #15
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