Wheat and Tea

Harvest

by Leon Augustin L'hermitte

France, 1844-1925

The painting, above, shows some interesting garments in colorful aqua and deep sea green. It is possible the painting depicts a family farm, with women from the same household, helping with the harvest. The fabric was sewn into several skirts, vests, and aprons. I usually buy more than I need of a print or color that I like, and then other women in the family get a skirt or dress or apron too. I like the color of the dye on the apron of the woman in the forefront of this picture: a deep aqua color, and of course, the hay color in that painting looks the same today as it did a hundred years ago.

In this picture you can see the field of ripened wheat in the background. I used the gold lame' woven material for the table cloth, because it is similar to the way the wheat glows in the sun. 

 I looked for wheat patterned tea sets but to no avail. Those of you who frequent thrift stores and garage sales like I do, might know what I am talking about.

 Those are the cups and saucers that have a wheat emblem on them, that are always there, and no one wants them. They aren't especially pretty and not very popular, so they are always the last things left in the tea cup area of the thrift stores. Well this year I actually tried to buy some, since they are often as low as 25 cents a cup, and there were none. For years and years I saw those wheat china sets and this year, nothing. I thought they would go well for the wheat tea-party.

The wheat is now being cut, so I quickly had a little guy take an annual photograph standing in the wheat, wearing the green piece of minky  which I showed in my previous post, as a shawl.

I did not get the "wheat" dress finished, and already I see the wheat is being chopped off, in the distance. I hope to get a picture of the new tractors on the block, and note some of the latest technology in them. It must be fun to be a farmer these days.

Not much happens around here, folks, so we make our own events. Today the wheat was taken, so 12 family and friends gathered at the edge of the field with cameras to record the event, as we do each year. 

It was hard to get a clear photo with all that dust, but here is what these wonderful machines look like. 

I picked a small bouquet of wheat before it was all taken.

Everyone filled their tea cups and loaded delicious sandwiches on the plates so they could sit outside and watch the various farm machines do the rest.

If you really want a wonderful bouquet, ask a child to pick it. The children usually have no notion of current trends in floral combinations and come up with rich bouquets, full of every color and shape. 

Here is a beautiful book published by John Deere, about tractors:

It shows what the driver sees out his front window,

and all the things inside the cab,

as well as all the conveniences,

and some history.

This new farm machinery is nothing like our Daddy's tractors. They

are so interesting, it makes me want one, even though I don't have anywhere to put it and no field to plow.

Update:  I found a few wheat patterned tea cups in the thrift store today: 99cent each.