The Soybean Harvest

The soybean harvest, another sign of fall, is well underway.  I was lucky enough to catch a group of farmers taking the beans off two large cash crop fields up the road, and actually get a picture of the combine, with its 'beanhead' on it.  In fact this was a big enough operation that there were two combines, a tractor and wagon, and a big grain truck

Here comes one of the big combines down the field, accumulating the beans in the bin on the back.

The second combine comes up another row,

Lifts the header and turns abruptly to head back down the field.

Meanwhile, the tractor pulls the grain wagon over beside the big grain truck and empties its load, ready for another one.

It moves back and forth, filling one end of the truck.

 And on an earlier day it occurred to me that many of you have never seen soybeans up close, so here they are.

 Here's an individual soybean plant,

And a closer look at the rather hairy beans.

These are a few beans broken open for you to see.

And here are the beans.

At the same time the corn harvest has started.  I missed them on their lunch break, but this smaller corn harvester cleared the corn field pretty fast.