It is the day before sampling of the four trials in order to establish baseline data. Thedeous and I are trying out the harvest methods I thought might work on this scale. So far, so good. The crop is cut all at once, then we pick it up by hand and pick out whatever weeds we missed before. The crop will dry in the shade on racks under a hoop house. We expect it to dry quickly with just a few turns if it is not too thick and the weather stays blazing hot.
One row cut, other rows standing.
Our makeshift harvest tool is a gas powered hedge trimmer mounted on a wheel hoe.