Middlesex boasts beautiful amber waves of grain

Grasses like wheat, rye, barley, corn and the rest gave mankind the ability to control food.

Agriculture sparked civilizations. Nomads no longer had to hunt and gather food. If the crops grew well enough they could stay in one place and build villages that became towns.
The sun’s energy is the fuel to turn nutrients from soil and water from clouds into life-giving crops.

Wheat seed planted in the fall, sprout into a short grass that can tolerate cold.

When the earth warms in spring the wheat grows taller and the seed heads turn pastel green and fields look as soft and inviting as a bedspread. In summer the wheat turns amber and waves in the wind.

Nowhere are wheat fields more beautiful than those viewed from “Rosegill curve” on Urbanna Road. From the top of the hill, fields stretch almost a mile to the Rappahannock River.

Hampstead Farm, based in Remlik just west of Urbanna, farms Rosegill. Wayne Bray and his son Jason worked as a team recently to harvest thousands of bushels of wheat. Jason operated the combine cutting the wheat. Wayne operated the grain cart that carried the grain from the combine to one of three nearby tractor trailers.

Harvesting the wheat was a little behind schedule this year due to rain. The wheat harvest is usually complete by July 4. The dryer wheat is when it’s cut is the best. Farmers like to see it dry in the month of May. “Rain is good for corn but hard on wheat,” Wayne Bray said. “Every time it rains the quality of wheat goes down.” Damp wheat will have to be dried with heat, which adds cost.

The lower grade of wheat will be animal feed.

The best wheat will be milled into flour to become the foundation of bread, birthday cakes or cookies…