Here is a potato harvester. This machine digs down into the sandy loam more than a foot to unearth the vegetable and strips off the green leafy part of the plant while sending the bulb onto a conveyor belt.
Here at the back, the dirt and leafy material are expelled.
From the conveyor belt, the potatoes are quickly inspected by a worker as they fill the truck.
While driving around to different farms I ran into an onion farmer who explained how the sandy loam is very good for potatoes and onions but it tends to blow away in the gorge winds. They plant wheat grass between the rows after harvesting to help keep the soil on the farm.
One of my favorite vegetables is the onion. While my wife is not a fan, I could eat raw onions every day... but then if I did I would probably have had a short marriage.
A drive around the tree farm in mid-afternoon gave me some very good light for photography. It's said there are deer and elk in abundance at the 18,500 acre tree farm.
It also revealed a lumber mill in the middle of the farm.
The bark has been stripped of the poplar and here a timber loader is setting the logs on to a size separator.
The finished product is sitting on the docks waiting for trucks or a train to move the wood.
All this is made possible with good soil but more importantly the water from the Columbia River.
While my John Deere 755 may not be a piece of equipment that you'd find on a "real" farm, it's as close as I'll probably ever get...:-)
Last look at our lovely spot on the Columbia River...we will miss it.
1 comment:
Hi Tom & Donna,
I haven’t checked out your blog in weeks and blown away with all the new content. Most informative and educational! We traveled that same ground several years but, didn’t stop and smell the roses like you guys have. Now you have me looking forward to revisiting. Like you we loved Pendleton, of course the rodeo helped make the stay most memorable.
Keep up the great photography and posts. Happy travels…
Jack
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