Simple Harvester Demonstration October 13th-14th Louisa VA

Alexis Zeigler of Living Energy Farm has invented a simple grain harvester. He plans to demonstrate it at the Heritage Farm in Louisa Virginia this weekend. It sounds like this is a historical equipment show, so there will be a lot of other farm implements to see. Details from the press release:

Harvesting Equipment Demonstration and Press Conference
When: Friday, October 13, 1 - 4 PM and Saturday, October 14, 10 AM - 3 PM
Where: Heritage Farm, behind Sargent Museum at the Louisa Historical Society
214 Fredericksburg Avenue, Louisa, VA 23093

A new combine harvester that costs eighty percent less to build and can harvest wheat, rice and other
grains could change the economics of grain farming on a global scale. The new “Simple Harvester” was
built at an off-grid, renewable energy development center in Virginia called Living Energy Farm. It
promises to make grain farming economical for small farmers who cannot afford large-scale, industrial
harvesting equipment.

People everywhere rely on grain for food. Modern grain harvesting equipment is expensive and complex.
Grain harvesting technology has evolved from one machine to the next. The term “combine” is derived
from the fact that modern machines ‘combine’ many machines that were historically separate. Each new
innovation was added to old technologies, and combine harvesters grew very complex with dozens of
moving parts. The Simple Harvester overcomes that legacy and harvests grain effectively with only a few
moving parts. As the name implies, the Simple Harvester is dramatically simpler than any other combine
harvester ever manufactured. The Simple Harvester is much cheaper to build, easier to maintain, easier to
operate, and can harvest a wide variety of grains under a wide variety of conditions

From
https://communelifeblog.wordpress.com/category/living-energy-farm/

Looks like it could handle Sepp Holzer Rye.

"Simplified Combine
Alexis has been working full time on trying to make our simplified combine harvester work. This machine is important because it is much simpler than any combine harvester ever marketed. It could make small scale grain farming more economical for farmers all over the world. I (Alexis speaking) think it is our most important invention.
At LEF, we made a mistake this year in planting our wheat. We were having disease issues in the variety we were growing previously, so we decided to try a new variety. Unfortunately, we did not do adequate research on the new variety, and now we have a wheat crop that is four to six feet tall. Modern commercial wheat is mostly about 18 inches tall, which is much easier to harvest. This tall stuff at LEF has forced us to modify the intake on our prototype combine. I suppose the silver lining is that we now have a machine that can harvest grain of most any height. "

Burl Smith wrote:From
https://communelifeblog.wordpress.com/category/living-energy-farm/

Looks like it could handle Sepp Holzer Rye.

Unfortunately, we did not do adequate research on the new variety, and now we have a wheat crop that is four to six feet tall. Modern commercial wheat is mostly about 18 inches tall, which is much easier to harvest. This tall stuff at LEF has forced us to modify the intake on our prototype combine. I suppose the silver lining is that we now have a machine that can harvest grain of most any height. "

Wow, I hadn't seen that, Burl. It is really cool that they can mechanically harvest wheat that is so tall!

LEF's most recent newsletter has a picture of one side of the Simple Harvester in use.