With all that's been happening here recently, we almost didn't get the chance to show you how our Steam Team harvest went! The weather halted original plans to harvest at the end of July and almost scuppered the new date which was set for the 7th August.
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| Smiling in the sunshine |
Luckily for the Steam team their journey from 'seed to slice' could still be realised after some sunshine in their favour, and they were able to successfully harvest a 'fine, even wheat crop.' A hard grained bread wheat was chosen to produce a good grain yield and useful straw of normal length, which was harvested using a reaper-binder from the 1930's pulled by a David Brown tractor from 1953.
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| The crop |
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| David Brown tractor with reaper binder |
The journey doesn't stop here though, and we will keep you informed on plans to thresh the crop using a Ransomes threshing drum which will be powered by out 'Empress of Britain' Burrell steam traction engine. The final stage will be milling the wheat grain using Alton Watermill, a quern (a hand turned millstone), or a small portable mill.
And of course this effort will have its rewards with the result being wholemeal flour to bake that perfect loaf of bread!
Thanks to Roger Barnes for providing additional information on the entire process.
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