Friendchip Farmyard

It has been fun meeting so many of you at the St. Paul Farmers' Market, The Champlin Farmers' Market, and the Bloomington Farmers' Market. Thanks to all of our wonderful farmers for sharing their produce on the Good Health Scavenger Hunt!

On the FriendChip Farm, the organic peas and barley crop has been harvested and is stored in a steel grain bin. It will be sold to another organic farmer to be used as feed for the animals.

Check back for more fun on the FriendChip Farm!

The FriendChip Farmer is swathing the wheat he planted this spring. He uses a machine called a swather. It cuts the wheat and puts it into windrows (called a swath). The windrow allows the wind to dry the grain. It takes several days to dry depending on the how windy it is or how much humidity is in the air.

The FriendChip Farmer then takes a grain sample to measure the moisture content. When it reaches 13.5% it is time to get out the combine and harvest the grain. A combine removes the wheat (grain) and "spits out" the chaff (straw). At this point the FriendChip Farmer can sell the grain at the local elevator or store it in one of his grain bins and sell it when it reaches a good price.

Next he bales the straw into big round bales. Straw bales are much lighter than hay bales. The FriendChip Farmer uses some of his straw bales to make "beds" for the animals on the farm or he might sell some to other farmers.

Some farmers straight combine their wheat crop. The grain is not put into rows to "air dry". This grain will have a moisture content of 17%-18% and they will have to pay the elevator to dry it to 13.5%. This costs more money, but saves other costs.

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