投稿の詳細: 蕎麦刈り終了　Harvest of Buckwheat.

今日蕎麦刈りをした。
といっても、コンバインで刈ったので
2時間ほどの立会いだけであった。
コンバインは山ノ内町のをお借りした。
コストは掛かるが、何せ忙しがっている
農家の5人や6人では、手刈りというわけにも
ゆかず。初めて機械のお世話になったのだ。

収量は70キロから80キロほど、で昨年と
比べるととても少ない。なれない直播のせい
なのか？　しかし、茎の太さは
適当という話だし、また話に聞くと
他所では全く取れない
畑もあったらしいので、今年の異常な
天気のせいもあるのだろう。

機械は豆と蕎麦用の機械だ。
こういうのが1台あると、須坂市でも
豆を作っている農家グループが増えているし
蕎麦や菜種も刈れるので大分
便利なのだが。須坂市得意の「広域」で、
小布施や高山と共同で購入したら
どうなのかな～。

去年ははさかけをしたのだが、蕎麦の場合は
刈った蕎麦を立てておくと乾燥するに従い
刈りとられた部分の栄養が玄そばにまわって、
乾燥するうちに良い蕎麦になるのだそうだ。

蕎麦はこれから、天日乾燥を何日かした
後とおみにかけ、更に玄蕎麦を磨いてから
製粉となる。そうするといよいよ蕎麦打ちだ。

Today our buckwheat were harvested by
the machine called Combine, which cut
and separate buckwheat grains from the stems.
It took only two hours for about 1.5a .
The machine was borrowed from the owner in Yamanouchi.
It dose cost but only 5 to 6 busy farmers cannot
achieve such harvest.

We had only 70 to 80kg of soba grains which is
much less than the harvset last year. We don't know
why. It may be because of the spreading seedings or
due to the bad weather. I heard that there were
some fields without the crop. Our soba seemed to grow
moderately. Any how, we have to realize that we are
amature buckwheat growers.

The combine machine is used for beans and buckwheat.
It would be very much convinient if there was one
such machine in our town as there is growing number
of beans grower groups in town.
It can be used for canola,too.

As local governer often mentions about the
cooperation with the neighbouring towns and
villages, such machine can be purchased and
utilized by and among the wider municipal offices,
say with Obuse town and Takayama village.

We hunged buckwheat upside down like
rice after cutting last year
but the best way was said to stand cut soba
straight up for a few days so that the nutrition
in the straw would be stored in the grain. Then
we would be able to obtain good soba.

We will sun dry buckwheat grains for a few days
and the small non-grain-materials will be
removed by 'tohmi wind separator'. Then they
will be polished and ground to be buckwheat poweder.
In winter, we can enjoy soba making by our own.