Wrapping Up Before Sandy Arrives

Everywhere I have been in the past few days, people are preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy.

Farmers are frantically harvesting their crops of corn, grains and hay to alleviate the oncoming damage of severe winds and flooding.

Some crops are being harvested early or wet.  Anything is better than losing an entire crop to wind and high water damage.

My neighbors were busy wrapping new, and quickly harvested, last cutting of hay.  As the bales were being driven off the fields they were being unloaded from the big trucks and put in a long line so they could be wrapped.

 

 I have only seen this method at a distance from a fully automated system. This one was a little manual and a little automatic.

This entire system is run by one person who must line the legs of the wrapper up to the next bale so it can be bumped up into the cradle to be wrapped multiple times.  It is bumped off the cradle when it is done and a special tractor with grippers must move it to a stacked pile out of the way so the process can be repeated.

 There were 60+ bales left to get done today and then more harvesting of corn and 20 acres of sunflowers.  We are all hoping the rain will hold off til Monday and give the area farmers just a bit more time to rescue their crops.

 

 As the plastic ran out, more rolls were brought and put onto the rollers quickly.
The Briggs and Stratton engine was refreshed with $4.00 a gallon gas to keep it humming.

 

Its an incredible process.

And the bales kept coming.

I hope this makes you look at those field marshmallows a bit differently the next time you see them.

They represent an entire growing season and a lot of work and effort.

The skies are getting darker as we all continue to rush to get things done before the bad winds and rain start.

All the flocks of geese and ducks have been flying out of this area for the past 2 days.

 

Its very quiet here. No birds are singing and my birdfeeders have not had a visitor since last Friday.

If you live next to a farm, you might want to go ask the farmer if he/she needs any help getting a few tasks finished.  An extra set of hands are priceless.

Stay safe.
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