Most of the stalks from the harvest are chopped up and dropped behind the combine. Once they dry out a bit, we will burn them and plow them under. The reason we don't just plow the stalks is that, even though they are short, they get caught in the blades. If we burn them a bit, they are crispy and easily mixed in the soil so we can plant the wheat in a few weeks. If you leave the field fallow for a season, I guess you wouldn't have to burn anything, but people still do. I can't think of too many other excuses to do it. I asked my husband and he says they burn the fields "because it smells good." ??? right!
Anyway, some of the straw was kept long so we can use it as mulch or to cover the pickles or whatever we need straw for. But before we pile it up, it needs to dry. If we wanted gorgeous straw, we would neatly hang it up on racks but since we are just going to throw it around the garden, we stack it like little headless- ladies- with- skirts in the field. (Mine look like little drunken ladies compared to other fields but you know - it works!) You grab a bundle, shake it straight, grab a few stalks to wrap around the neck of the bundle, twist the ends like a twist-tie to create kind of a rope, then give the rope a twist and it forms a knot, tuck the ends behind it and stand her up! O-bachan can do it like a pro (of course). Watch this:
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