An Amish field of spelt shocks at dawn

I went out to photograph the countryside today in a rural area between Middlebury and Shipshewana, Indiana a few miles from my home. This area primarily consists of small self-sufficient Amish farmsteads. Here you will find many scattered roadside fruit and vegetables stands, along with the occasional harness shop, or sawmill. Some of you may recognize these heaps of bundled wheat that are called “shocks”, with the intended purpose to dry the wheat for its eventual thrashing–which will separate the wheat grains from the chaff and the straw. This farming method is rarely used today since the advent of the modern combine harvester, but the Amish still commonly use it.