Time for the farmer to harvest the barley.

You could say that we live in the country.  I think that being completely surrounded by fields qualifies us for that description.  This season there was barley growing in the field behind our house.  What an amazing summer season for the farmer: dry, warm, and sunny!  We enjoyed watching the combine harvester last weekend as it harvested the barley.  We had great front row seats!

Combine Harvester.

I can only imagine what the workers thought as I took their photo (all afternoon).  It was just so neat to watch!

Harvesting the barley and leaving the straw.

As the barley is harvested, the straw is left behind.  The straw is then later gathered up into bales.

Neat rows of straw are left behind after harvesting the barley.

O.K., now having kids makes this next part quite a laugh (ya gotta humor them).  The straw is gathered up and formed into bales (in our case round ones) and then rolled out of the baling machine.

Tractor and baling machine.

Bale of straw being rolled out.

And there you have it! A bale of straw.

Yeah, I know, but they are kids and this is kinda new to us still. 🙂

Tractor & baling machine.

Those guys worked really quickly!  They had the field done in no time.

The field with bales of straw.

And what are kids to do with a field behind their home filled with bales of straw???

Surf on the bale!

or pose for mom.

It was such a beautiful day which rolled into a perfect evening.  The kids had a ball playing in the field.

A perfect day.

The field on the other side of our house being harvested.

I love taking photos in the evening.

A perfect evening.

The color of fall.

I really enjoyed putting this post together.  We all had such fun that day!  I hope you are enjoying good weather where you are, too!

Dana