The field across the road was planted in tomatoes back at the end of May. See this post. I have watched the progress of the crop since then. When I walk Across the Road with Ginny it’s these fields I walk around. I wrote this post September 26.

I took this photo at dusk Thursday, September 28 and heard activity over there just before midnight.

The harvest had started. I stood in our driveway and took photos. I didn’t want to miss it! I think I didn’t need to rush. I don’t know how many acres this field is, but it took about four days, working 24 hours/day. At first there was one harvester working, but later there were two.

The first morning I took my usual walk, but walked on the other side of the main canal so that I wouldn’t get in anyone’s way. There is a lot of infrastructure involved. This is a water tank with a portable toilet and a place for shaded seating.

At times there were four or five sets of double trailers staged here. The tractor pulls them next the harvester as it works and then drops them here. Another tractor brings the next set of trailers to the harvester. The trucks come and go from here, taking full loads out and bringing back empty trailers.

I know nothing about tons/acre, or how many loads were harvested, etc. Maybe I’ll ask next time I talk to someone. I think the answer is A LOT.

It is fascinating to watch the harvester at work. I have several short videos but I think I won’t try to load them here or I’ll never get this post written. I posted one on my YouTube channel but I’d like to do another showing more of the process. That one is good at showing what is going on with the harvester. The row of plants is cut and then lifted by the conveyor into the harvester. I haven’t seen inside but was told that lasers are used to sort the tomatoes and debris. Some debris goes out the back and some to the side while the tomatoes are being lifted into the trailers pulled by the tractor.

Here is a view from the other direction. The harvester fills the trailer in a back and forth motion while the tractor with the trailers pulls it forward as necessary to keep up with the harvester.

Taking two trailers back to the staging area.

In the middle of the day on Saturday we had a brief, but heavy rain. We got 1/8 inch in less than 15 minutes. That’s a lot for us, especially when this was the first rain since spring. It’s dry enough here that it wasn’t enough to stop the harvest for long.

The harvesters worked all night and this was about 6:30 the next morning. By this time there were two harvesters at work with two tractors pulling trailers.

It was’t until Sunday that they finished the rows that were closest to the road.

I don’t remember if they finished Sunday evening or if that was just the last photo that I took of the harvest.

I have had a whirlwind of activity with Lambtown October 5-8 followed by a trip to Boise and now I’m getting ready for another adventure. So I missed all the steps that brought this field from one just harvested to this one that is ready for fall rain.