Staying Warm on the Farm - this week at Sunflower Fields

Today, our first, most important top priority job was to refill our bulk bin with corn for our biomass furnace. As you can see from the photos, it really makes us appear to be just like most Iowa farms - a gravity wagon pouring corn kernels into an auger which moves the corn into a holding bin. And Michael has dressed the part - Carhartt coveralls and hooded coat. There is a reason that you see farmers who are working outside in the cold weather dressed the way they are!

But our corn is not used in the same way as the vast majority of the fall harvest. Here at Sunflower Fields, we grow 3 acres of organic field corn each season, hire a neighbor to combine it for us, put in our gravity wagon, dry it in the machine shop and empty it into the bulk bin behind our house. The corn in the bin is fed by gravity from the bin into the cellar where our corn furnace burns it to heat our farmhouse. There is a bit more to it than that simple explanation, but not much. The heat is wonderful - like wood but not as messy and time consuming, the fuel source is renewable and the furnace uses our existing duct work. The dried corn kernels burn clean and hot with surprisingly little ash to clean up.

We like to make filling the bin "an event" by taking the dogs outside to romp while we pull the wagon into place, turn on the auger and watch the corn flow into the bin. It is amazing how much like watching a bonfire it is - we both find ourselves staring into the wagon watching the corn disappear or feeling the kernels fall through our hands as they come out of the shoot. But we are also extremely careful not to get careless working around moving, running machinery. We need all our parts to harvest our crops!

The best part of all this is knowing we have grown the fuel that heats our home. We are reminded of this as we enjoy the warmth and coziness of our farmhouse in the winter as we read books, work in the office or just enjoy the view from our window. We are big proponents of corn heat and if you have questions we are always willing to chat about it!

Best to you all from everyone at Sunflower Fields!

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