Harvesting the Beet Field and a Missed Photo Opportunity.

Sitting quietly this morning, doing nothing, I was suddenly disturbed by the beet gathering machine that finally arrived to harvest the beetfield opposite my front window.  When I first arrived here in late April the crop was so tiny, that I didn't know what it was, I thought it was turnips.   Janet reliably informed me that it was beet, and I have watched it grow over the last five months.  I did wonder when it would be gathered, for it seems a long time in growing.  What's it used for?  A sweetner, I don't really know.  (Janet tells me that the beet produces sugar for most of the European Union countries, with Germany, France and Poland being the biggest produces.)

It was an amazing machine.  A scoop in the front dug into the earth and loosened the beet, which then rolled along an upward and onward moving band that carried it until it plopped into a large holding container.   Every so often the machine stopped in front of my window and dumped the beet in a huge pile, which you can see in the top photo.  It was a fully mechanised process and very interesting to watch.  Somebody, somewhere, sat down in a office and designed that machine, how very clever! 

I went into town this afternoon without my camera, only to find that the fire brigade had a display of their machines and equipment in the "Square of German Unity" opposite the Rathaus.  What a pity!  I missed a good photo opportunity with all the big red machines and the men in their red, high visibility garb and big black helmets.