• Tea time in Thailand: Workers harvest Oolong #17

    Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

    Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

    Workers sift Oolong tea leaves during a wrapping process at the Suwirun Tea factory and farm.

    An Akha Hilltribe woman picks Oolong #17 tea leaves during a harvest at the Suwirun Tea farm in the hills outside of Chaing Rai, Thailand, Nov. 11. There are around 40 Akha hill tribe workers and 120 Burmese who make 300 Bhat a day working on the family-run Suwirun Organic tea farm, which has been in business nearly 38 years.

    The Tea is harvested every 45 days and about 1.5 tons is collected per harvest. On special occasions the Akha wear their traditional dress while picking tea. These days it is most commonly worn for tour groups and ceremonies. 

    Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

    Workers spread out the freshly picked Oolong #17 tea leaves on a screen for drying.

    Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

    A Burmese worker sucks on an Oolong tea leaf while picking tea.

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  • Jim Hollander / EPA

    Hand-cutting wheat ahead of Shavuot

    Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men use a small sickle to cut wheat by hand in a field outside Sha'alvim in central Israel, on May 17. The wheat is then processed, all by hand-made Kosher means, to bake unleavened Matzah, to be eaten during the next high holiday of Passover, in April 2013. The wheat is harvested just before the holiday of Shavuot, which comes seven weeks after Passover, and marks when God gave the Torah to the Israelites at Mount Sinai.

  • Harvesting sugarcane in Guatemala

    Rodrigo Abd / AP

    In this photo taken on Friday Nov. 25, 2011, field worker Jose Contreras, 31, carries sugar cane stalks.

    Rodrigo Abd / AP

    In this picture taken on Friday Nov. 25, sugar cane worker Valerisimo Moran drinks water after finishing his work day.

    Rodrigo Abd / AP

    A foreman writes down the quantity of sugar cane cut by workers at the end of a work day.

    Rodrigo Abd / AP

    Sugar cane cutters leave the field at the end of a work day.

    Here's an excerpt from the Wikipedia article on sugarcane:

    Sugarcane is harvested by hand and mechanically. Hand harvesting accounts for more than half of production, and is dominant in the developing world. In hand harvesting, the field is first set on fire. The fire burns dry leaves, and kills any lurking venomous snakes, without harming the stalks and roots. Harvesters then cut the cane just above ground-level using cane knives or machetes. A skilled harvester can cut 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) of sugarcane per hour.

  • Redskins sponsor Harvest Feast for needy families

    Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

    Needy families and individuals line up in the pouring rain outside of FedEx Field to receive free groceries during the ninth annual Harris Teeter Redskins Harvest Feast at FedEx Field Nov. 22, 2011 in Landover, Maryland. The food donation program provides 3,500 families with a whole turkey and other food in a Thanksgiving basket.

    Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

    Members of the Washington Redskins fan group The Hogettes hand out frozen turkeys during the ninth annual Harris Teeter Redskins Harvest Feast at FedEx Field Nov. 22, 2011 in Landover, Maryland.

    Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

    Needy families and individuals walk through the concourse level at FedEx Field to receive free groceries during the ninth annual Harris Teeter Redskins Harvest Feast at FedEx Field Nov. 22, 2011 in Landover, Maryland.

    Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

    Needy families and individuals walk out of FedEx Field after receiving free groceries during the ninth annual Harris Teeter Redskins Harvest Feast at FedEx Field Nov. 22, 2011 in Landover, Maryland.

     

  • Tannen Maury / EPA

    A farmer drives his combine as he harvests his corn crop from fields near Dwight, Ill., as windmills tower over the field, Oct. 15. The 2011 crop is projected to be around 12.497 billion bushels which is 50 million bushels more than the 2010 crop according to agricultural economists at the University of Illinois.

    Illinois corn crop up over 2010 harvest

    Because of the better-than-expected yield, corn and wheat prices fell earlier in the week. Read more here.

  • Celebrating the harvest in London

    Ben Stansall / AFP-Getty Images

    Pearly Kings and Queens gather to celebrate their annual Costermonger's Harvest Festival at the Guildhall in London on September 25.

    Ben Stansall / AFP-Getty Images

    Pearly Kings and Queens gather to celebrate their annual Costermonger's Harvest Festival at the Guildhall in London on September 25.

    From the London Pearly Kings and Queens Society:

    The London Pearly Kings & Queens Society Costermongers Harvest Festival Parade
    Service takes place at Guildhall Yard in London with traditional entertainment before a parade down to St Mary-le-Bow  Church. This is attended by many Mayors, Donkey's and Carts, Marching Bands and of course the Pearly Kings & Queens and many
    other colorful characters. All the offerings are donated to the Whitechapel Mission. For more information and history of the Pearly Kings and Queens click here.

  • A day's labor on a Hungarian farm

    By David R Arnott, NBC News

    The EPA today published a photo feature by Attila Balazs, who spent a day with a group of seasonal workers on a farm in eastern Hungary. According to Balazs, the laborers are poorly paid and seldom know what they will work on from day to day. During the summer harvest, their working day begins at 6 am and ends at 2 pm, avoiding the worst of the afternoon heat.

    Attila Balazs / EPA

    Day-workers gather at dawn in their home village of Tiszavasvari, some 200 km east of Budapest, Hungary, on August 22.

    Attila Balazs / EPA

    Seasonal day-workers ride the bus to their place of work at dawn. In season, some 15-20 workers are taken by bus to a 150 hectare fruit-farm in Tiszadob, about 18 km to the north, for agricultural work.

    Attila Balazs / EPA

    A worker shakes ripe fruit from a tree in a peach orchard.

    Attila Balazs / EPA

    Collecting peaches.

    Attila Balazs / EPA

    Shift manager Jozsef Vadasz, center, has dinner with his family at his home in Tiszavasvari after the day's work is finished.

     

  • In India, harvesting wheat is a family affair

    Rajesh Kumar Singh / AP

    Children join their mother who works in a wheat field at Vheety village, near Allahabad, India on Monday, April 18.

    Rajesh Kumar Singh / AP

    An Indian agricultural worker's child reacts as he sits at a wheat field where his mother works, unseen at Vheety village, near Allahabad, India on Monday, April 18.

    Rajesh Kumar Singh / AP

    Indian farmers work in a wheat field at Vheety village, near Allahabad, India on Monday, April 18.

  • Thomas Peter / Reuters

    A police officer is silhouetted against the full moon as he surveys the surrounding of the Chancellery before Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel meets with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak in Berlin, Sept. 22, 2010.

    Harvest moon

    Neil Young's old song "Harvest Moon" seems to get some radio play every September. Young's sweet, gentle song is one of the things that mark the turning of the season for me. A Harvest Moon happens every autumn as the timing of the setting sun and the rising full moon happen so close together that, in times past; farmers used the moonlight to extend their harvest work days. These autumn moon rises are also sometimes called "Hunters Moon".

    I think of this whole week as the time of the Harvest Moon, but technically this year in the United States, the Harvest Moon happens in the early morning hours of Sept. 23, only 5 1/2 hours after the autumnal equinox. Try to see it if you can.