So what's the first crop taken for fall harvest (even though it's not fall)? That's right, Navy Beans. Why are they called Navy Beans? I looked it up and the answer is obvious. Back in the sea faring days of sailing ships and months at sea, these white beans could be loaded into casks and stored for a long time. So boat...sailors....Navy beans! How nutritious. So the experiment on Farm 7 was ready for harvest. Last year we harvested here on September 26. Of course it is documented in the blog. Really, check it out. Why so early this year? Well lack of rain resulted in smaller plants that finished earlier. Smaller plants close to the ground can be a challenge to direct harvest. Time was they were pulled, wind-rowed and then combined. Even with direct harvest beans, they can be tough to feed into the combine. But the wind reel that we have helps blow them in, so it went well. Except for the low yields from drought.
As has been seen so many times in harvest blogs, the weigh wagon follows the combine and catches the beans for each 265 foot long plot. Stephanie had the honor of riding in weigh wagon grain cart and took these pictures.
I showed up later in the afternoon to confirm that it was indeed harvested. It was.
So in a few weeks it will be soybean harvest....and corn harvest while still making time to plant wheat. Look for these results in the research report.
