Today was the day we lifted our sharecrop onions! It’s that time in the season where we need to stop the onions growing and dry them out in good weather to keep for over-winter storage.
First off, Paul topped the crop using a cutter. Removing the top of the leaves like this helps speed up the drying process.
Then it was up to our
great volunteers to pull out the onions from the ground, and lay them
flat on the soil. We were careful to lay onions horizontal to make
sure that no water would leak into the hollow onion leaves, and on
flat ground so that our onions would not be lying in a puddle. The
aim of this step is to dry out the bulbs and remaining leaves. We’ll
be putting these onions into storage so don’t want moisture hanging
around that could cause fungus growth when stored. We were also
watchful for rotting of our onions, and any damaged or diseased
plants we chucked into the wheelings in the field- the tracks the
tractor goes up and down. We won’t bring these diseased onions into
storage as the disease may spread once there.
Of course- almost all the crop was in top condition, and there were some whoppers! Do they normally come this big?
It was really satisfying to see our crop all laid out in neat rows waiting to dry.
Our volunteers shared a great lunch after work, well deserved and a good chance to chat.
Next time on the farm we’ll be collecting the dried onions from the field and storing them in a purpose-built shed- pics to come.
Thanks everyone for your hard work today!
Until next time,
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