Tag: harvest

When the air turns crisp and the scent of burning leaves fills the air, we prepare for the coming winter by "putting by" food, cleaning up our gardens, and decorating our homes with the bounty.

Preparing both our larders and our gardens for winter are customs that go way back in time, but the decorating of our front lawns is a relatively modern practice. After diligent research, I was unable to nd any denite timeline for the custom of using bales of straw, corn sheaves, mums, and various rural-type items in our home decorating. However, the age-old ritual of decorating the churches with baskets of harvest bounty is probably the origin of the idea. Of course, Halloween is part of the season, so many folks include carved pumpkins, gourds, and squash in these charming displays.

ScienceDaily (Jan. 27, 2011) Professor Richard Watt and his chemistry students suspected that a common protein could potentially react with sunlight and harvest its energy -- similar to what chlorophyll does during photosynthesis.

The story of how they proved it sounds as colorful as the legend of the leprechaun who hid his pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

The cornucopia, a horn brimming over with fruits of the harvest, is a symbol of abundance indelibly linked, at least in American minds, with Thanksgiving. It is far more ancient than the Pilgrims, however, and dates back to the 5th century B.C.

MARENGO, Illinois (Reuters) - Brothers Steve and Ron Pierce spent most of an hour in a chilly northern Illinois field last week clearing a clog of soybean chaff from the guts of their combine, using a mix of tools and their bare hands.

"The beans get tough when they pick up moisture," Steve Pierce said.

The clog had idled the $260,000 harvester, another delay in what has been the harvest from hell across the U.S. Midwest corn and soybean belt.