“Field Trip” – Riding a Combine & Learning How Soybeans & Corn are Harvested & Stored
We have 10 acres of farmland that a neighbor farms (they’ve been farming it for long before we came along). This past week they let us know they were harvesting soybeans & would we like to come watch & take turns riding in the combine?
This was a first for us, so we jumped at the chance. It was so fun & educational! And this week we got to watch corn! As we were watching & taking lots of pictures (they were great at showing us & explaining everything as we went along), I realized this would make an excellent 4H project. 😀 🤩
Waiting for the combine to come around…Ellie, Keira, Lucas, Emmalyn – along with a whole stalk they found that had been missed. Lisa showing us the parts of the soybean stalkKeira & Emma riding in the combine Emma & Keira disembarking Lucas riding & watching Lucas getting offElie waiting for her turn, with 2 short stalksWatching the soybeans being transferred to the wagon from the combine Ellie getting off the combine – she & I got to go together Right behind the seat, you could watch the combine’s tank filling upFrom inside the combine, watching the soybeans being harvested (note the attachment on the front of the combine & then see the next picture to compare it to the corn attachment)
Corn harvesting:
The combine with the corn harvesting attachment (it looks a lot different than the soybean attachment above!)Lucas & Logan in the combine, watching the corn be moved to the wagon, to be transported to the bin. Each of these wagons can hold about 3500 bushels!Logan & Lucas disembarking (Logan was sick last week & missed out on the soybean harvest).Logan & LucasFrom inside the combine, watching the corn be harvestedLogan found an old horseshoe with nails in the fencerow….they said they just pulled down an old fence there last year, so this horseshoe was likely from a horse that was used to work this field many years ago!!Keira & Emma riding in the combineKeira & EmmaLogan & Lucas gleaning leftover corn & cobs from the field (to give to our chickens) Ellie & I riding in the combine (you can see the corn behind us)Look at all that corn!The kids each got to climb up & peek into the top of the wagon LoganEmmaLucasEven Ellie climbed up twice! No fear!KeiraThe corn filling the wagon (Logan took this picture from the top of the ladder)Storage bins for the grain (we always called them silos & discovered the actual term is a storage bin. The one on the left holds 25,000 bushels. The one on the right holds 35,000 bushels!The corn going from the wagon to a binJohn explaining the process to Logan & LucasJust hanging out inside an empty storage bin 😀 Inside the binThe top of the binLogan inside the bin, Ellie climbing in
How fun, I’m glad you had that opportunity! 💗 Our neighbor told me it was one of her favorite things to do, so it was special of her to share the time with us. 🤩
I send my reply to Martha’s e-mail by mistake. I told of also riding a combine last year. What a wonderful experience!
How fun, I’m glad you had that opportunity! 💗 Our neighbor told me it was one of her favorite things to do, so it was special of her to share the time with us. 🤩
This is so fun! Glad you could all participate