Notes from the flax field…

By Angela Wartes-Kahl

The difference between hand-pulling fiber flax and mechanical pulling is so dramatic we can't explain the euphoria we feel when it all works out. To get to this point, logistics and preparation before harvest have become our all-consuming priority. Here are some issues and resolutions from the 2024 fiber harvest.

We had a tricky engine starter that barely made it through the 2023 flax-pulling season. I live between two farms in Washington and Oregon and couldn't get to Oregon early enough this season to assess the starter issue, so the repair process felt very last minute.  Our RGA puller has an old Deutz engine with Bosch injectors; I say old, but really, it's from 1990 and only has about 1000 engine hours on it. The manufacturers have passed away, and the company that made the machine no longer exists in Belgium. Plus, it's a Union machine base with considerable changes to the belts and table (upper machine), meaning we have no user manual. The starter is old enough that finding a replacement was complicated, but thanks to our diesel mechanic, Walz's rebuild in Salem, and many phone calls, we found a replacement on the West Coast. Then, speedy delivery to the farm site, installation, crank the key… nothing happened. Tracked all the wires back; one was not connected to the alternator, fixed it, and the Puller started right up! Annual maintenance does include:

• Changing the fuel filter.
• Oil change.
• Evaluate whether you want to change the filters for the hydraulics.

I should've done that last one… I reasoned that we had only used it briefly in the 2023 season.  This will come back to haunt me later during harvest.

Thanks to Adrian, a local hauler, we moved the Puller and Turner from @garnettsredprairefarm to @osohoney. Out in the field, greased all the casters on the belt system, filled with new diesel, and we're off. The first pass went well, and then the problems started. This is where I need to note the seeding rate critically. We used a Brillion Broadcast Seeder with a small John Deere tractor. The calibration for the seeder took a few rows, and really, it could've been as high as 120 pounds an acre at the beginning of the field. It meant we were entering the thickest part for the first pull. I was going too fast, and my belt speed was too low.

​I made it through the first pass, and then, as I turned the corner, we hit the highest-density stems, and the whole thing choked up. I stopped the Puller, stopped the belts, and in trying to clear all the jammed flax, two of the belts started to come off their rollers. It becomes a three-person job with pry bars and mallets to get everything back in order. We begin again, trying to miss the most densely planted areas, but end up in the same situation about a dozen times throughout the rest of the day. Only at the very end was I able to get into a better density of flax. A combination of slow speed, high RPMs, and increased belt speed made all the difference. Late in the day, we found a hydraulic leak on the top rollers at the apex of the belts and the back table. Small hydraulic motors run practically everything on the Puller. Jason ran into town for hydraulic fluid while we took a break in the field. With a refill, we were able to finish pulling the Lisette variety. 

Wait, there's more… because of the high-density planting, there were small stems about half the height of the rest of the crop; they didn't have any branching at the top and maybe only one seed boll. This meant they remained in the field, standing and perching up our windrow of pulled flax. This created a wave across the field and suggested that several sections of flax did not have direct contact with the soil. With the bumpy terrain, I couldn't keep the outer guide at the edge of each pass, so sections of a few stems would be unpulled in a fine line, holding the flax windrow above the ground. I hope the Turner will flatten some of these uneven sections when we turn the crop next week.

The next day, we began to pull the Christine variety. This is an entirely different story. The seeding rate is reasonable. I know now to go slower with higher RPMs and belt speed, and we picked up some hydraulic stop-leak product at the NAPA store on the way to the field. This did the trick, and the leak on the rollers was only a drip. We got through the entire day of pulling Christine with only one jam! The laydown of the crop also looks much better than the Lisette.

Thankfully, we have a wide crack in one of the top belts on the Puller, which did not give way during harvest. The machine came with three replacement belts, which will be a fun job over winter. Also, we need to replace the hydraulic seal on the rollers.

There was a little rain on Monday and Tuesday, promoting a nice field retting. The front wheel on the Turner had a missing pick-up rod, which looks like it broke off many years ago. I took the wheel off and brought it to our local neighborhood welder to see if he could replicate the same one from the other side of the wheel. This will help guide the flax windrow onto the pick-up wheel and the belts.

I'm turning flax next week, and we'll report on our progress.