Growing Peanuts - 2
The picture above is plowing the peanuts up. This tractor plows two
rows at the time, throwing the two together into one large row ready
for the picker. He is actually combining two rows into one. The brown
spots you see are the peanut plant roots turned up. This is where
the peanuts are. During a good season, you would see more white
peanuts than brown roots and soil. However drought or not, he did
make a crop. This plowing two rows together into one large one,
allows the combine (the machine the tractor pulls to pick the peanuts)
to actually pick four rows as seen growing in the first pictures in this site.
This is a picture of the combine at work picking up the rows, running
them through and removing the peanuts. (Note the way the combine rollers
pick the vines up, moving them into the picker.) The peanuts are filling the
basket on top of the combine. This basket is hydraulically lifted and emptied
into metal dryer wagons, then pulled by a truck to town where
they are hooked to the dryer system. The drying time depends on the
moisture in the peanuts which are sampled at the company operating
the dryers and who will purchase the peanuts.
Here we see the peanut combine emptying a full basket of peanuts
into the wagon to take to the dryers in town. The dryer system
hooks directly to this wagon, there is no need to remove them
from the wagon until they are dried and ready for use. As soon
as that wagon is full, then it will be brought into town and
another wagon will be in the process of being filled.
The price paid for the peanuts to the farmer is based on the grade
(quality) and dry weight by the pound. These peanuts are then
shipped worldwide and used for a wide variety of purposes from
peanut oil for cooking to candy bars. Peanuts originated in Africa.
George Washington Carver found over 300 uses for all parts of the
peanut and it's plant. Food products, of course, the vine is used
for feed for livestock and the shells are ground up and for one example,
used in cat litter.
Seen above are the vines (or stems) the picker leaves in the
rows to be raked by the tractor pulling the large rake, (seen here) creating
a very large row of vines. When all have been raked, the farmer then hooks
his hay baler to his tractor and returns to the field to bale the hay for winter
feed for cows and calves. After the hay is removed from the field, rye grass is
planted to help "winter" livestock and also adds nutrients to the soil.
Below is a picture of young rye grass.
This image (below) is of a few cows turned in on the rye grass. It didn't do
very well this year due to the drought and extremely cold winter
as well.
You will find some good and interesting peanut recipes
on the "Next" page. Just click the link below.
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ŠAquarius 2001
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