The drought this summer is having a serious effect for farmers. Grass isn't growing well and the volume of hay is down. This causes problems because if there is not enough grazing farmers need to feed hay to their animals, which in turn leave less for them to feed in winter. Grain crops, such as corn, have been affected by the drought. The Amish community in Stirling-Rawdon use a horse drawn reaper to harvest oats. The sheaves of oats are dried are in the field. They place a sheaf on top of the shook to protect the grain from rain. They then take the stooks to the farm so they can thresh them with a static threshing machine. threshing. One of their neighbours uses an Allis Chalmers Pull Combine to cut and thresh his barley grain. These combines were made between the 1930s and 1960s.
This is a good year for garlic, honey and sunflowers . You can buy garlic from many local producers, honey of local producers and sunflowers from Sheila Harris and her son Cedar.
