Scenes such as these make iconic Amish country photographs. However, fields of shocked grain like this are less and less frequent. Rules for the Amish farmers are changing, allowing them to make use of equipment like combines to harvest oats and wheat.
Only the lower order Amish still shock wheat and oats. This method permits the grain to dry in the warm, often hot, August sun. Once the moisture content is low enough, the shocks are pitchforked onto a wagon and hauled to the barn. There a thrasher separates the grain from the chaff.
I hope this process remains, if only for its marvelous beauty.
“August in Amish country” is my Photo of the Week.
© Bruce Stambaugh 2015
Roadkill Crossing 
I recently saw wheat shocks in Holmes County and they brought back memories of my dad doing these. My one and only time of driving a tractor was guiding it slowly through the field to gather the shocks for threshing.
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Those are precious memories, Ava.
Bruce
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Bruce, did you ever hear them referred to as “stooks”?
Growing up in Canada that is what we called them.
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No, I never heard that term. I does sound Canadian though, eh.?
Bruce
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