AUGUST

       In August the landscape on the western Canadian prairie ever so faintly begins to change. The sunlight is not the direct bright rays as as the angle of the sun has changed. It is drier. Plant activity is shutting down. The nights are colder. Two nights ago our low was plus 3 C.

      It's a good thing that we have these changes or is it people taking advantage of the changes. It's harvest time in this huge prairie land. Weather is extremely important. It has to be dry to harvest the grain.

     So I'm talking like an old farm boy even though I left the farm 68 years ago. You can't take the farm out of the  boy. 

    Farmers grow different crops so that they can stagger harvest times and give themselves a long harvest time. My nephews farm. Their first harvest is silage which they take off green. Then they swath some crops that can lay in the swath until later. Then they straight combine wheat. This means they harvest the grain when it's standing. Nowadays this looks like the indie 500. Combines have a 45 ft and 37 ft cutting width. I can't believe the speed these machines travel. They are one big sensor. An operator sits in the cab but doesn't do much. The canola is swathed. that means that the plants are cut and laid in a row. They can be threshed later when it's dry enough. 

    Things have changed on the farm since I lived there but it's still an interesting process. 

   Now if I've made any errors one of my brothers will tell me I'm sure. 

   So August begins a busy time as many things change on the landscape and people take advantage of the change. .

    Critters take advantage of the change and either leave or collect food for the winter or go to sleep. Some Richardson's ground squirrels have already gone into hibernation.