Harvest, 08.22.09

From here on out, I decided to have two sections, one basic info and facts, the other will be more of an insight of a farm wife.





The Farm perspective:





Harvest is in full swing on the Palouse. There was a sign outside of an implement dealer that said farmers have 3 kinds of seasons, before harvest, harvest and after harvest - which is true! Harvest is what farmer's live for, it's the final completion of all of our efforts and hard work. No one feels rested until the last grain, bean or kernel is in storage.





Two of our neighbors are harvesting their wheat which borders our land, so there is activity all around our house. The semi trucks are a frequent sight on our road, either loaded up with grain to go to the warehouse or empty and heading back into the field. Once harvest is complete then, another kind of busy activity occurs, which is the fall planting for next year's crop and that is a future topic.





Harvest brings a frenzied kind of energy into everyone's life. The day starts early, usually around 5:30am ish, lunches are made, plans to meet the crew at a certain spot are made, combines & tractors are inspected and dieseled up, windows cleaned and we are off to begin another round of bringing in the crops to feed America. Our farm has winter wheat, spring wheat, mustard and garbanzo beans. All our winter wheat has been harvested as well as the spring wheat on our Tammany farm. Today we started harvesting mustard and once that is done, then we will move the equipment up to our Genesee farm to begin the spring wheat harvest.





The Farmwife perspective:

I thought about my very first harvest after we married, I was working off the farm full time and hadn't quite gotten it figured out about the grocery thing and what all I needed for harvest lunches. So as I was making a lunch before work for my new husband, and me being the almost "vegan vegetarian" I only had one piece of Bologna and a little bit of tuna fish, not really enough of each for a sandwich - so I thought, well they are both disgusting, I'm sure they go together and put both the tuna and Bologna in one sandwich. Well, new hubby ate half of the sandwich before he realized how bad it tasted.... haven't quite ever lived that one down. Now of course, I'm seasoned and know what kinds of things to have on hand, make proper sandwiches for his lunch, it makes for a much calmer harvest for both of us. =)

As I said, harvest is a frenzy of activity, especially with two farms, one in Tammany which is an hour away from the home (Genesee) farm. It makes for lots of time traveling between the two and the need to move equipment from one farm to another. Farming isn't just a job, it is a great way of life and what other job affects every single person in the world? Think about it, if every farmer and rancher in the world decided to not do their job, world disaster and famine! Good thing farmers/ranchers love what they do. This is not a 9 to 5 kind of job, there are lots of long hours and for months at a time. For those who have livestock, it is all the time, 365 days of the year. We don't have animals, we only farm, and so from March through October is a busy time on the farm. It takes special people who love what they do to face the challenges of raising crops and livestock given that we have no control over weather and the price of crops/animals. But raising a family on the farm has it's special rewards and we are thankful for the life . As my husband heads out the door, he says, I'm off to feed America! I love it, and tho some may view it as corny, it warms my heart and makes me proud.

Harvest on the Anderson Farm

08.19.09

We got back in the field around 4pm on Monday. Yea! Rain and wheat are not a good mix and the rain can damage the wheat. We will not know if there is any dockage on our wheat until the warehouse tests it . The crops look good, seems to be a little above average, so that is a plus. The crew was harvesting in one of the fields around our house yesterday, and you can smell that heavenly scent. Wheat has a smell all it's own, not over powering, just an aromic, earthly smell. Trucks were scurring up and down the gravel roads taking their golden knernels to the warehouse or their own home storage. We don't use home storage and haul everything into the warehouse.

I sort of miss driving the grain trucks into town and all the activity in the fields. Back in the mid-1990's when combines and trucks were on a smaller scale, most everyone used 2 ton trucks to haul the grain into the warehouse. I would take my vacation from my full time job to drive truck. I loved it, no phone, faxes, email, clients..... it was hot, dusty and perfect. I'd bring magazines or books into the field and read while waiting for the combines to come fill my truck. Once in town, I'd always stop at the impromptu "lemonaid stands" run by entrepeneurial kids. It was just bad karma to not stop, so I'd have lots of quarters with me, even tho I rarely drank the product, I just liked to stop and make my purchase and chat with the eager kids trying to make some money. At the warehouse, I'd have to re-learn the route to go to the correct dumping pit, sometimes making one of the warehouse guys have to chase the truck to route me to the right place. I don't know my directions, so go to the north pit on the east side doesn't mean anything to me.... I need more specific directions like take a right and go behind the warehouse and unload at the first stop. So the warehouse guys learned to help guide me on those first hectic days of harvest. =) Plus they liked me cause I'd bring cookies with me, bribes help. My husband and brother in law also learned to be more specific when coming back into the field after a trip to town. Lots happen when you leave to dump the truck and then make it back, as it takes a while to get into town (can't drive fast or the grain will fly off the top of the truck), there are lines of trucks waiting to get dumped & lemonaid stands to visit. So once back in the field, the terms like head South, go over the saddle and turn North would make me retort back that I needed the "english version"... plus I made my husband's lunch, so he also made it a point to not be cranky with me. Now that combines are bigger, we use semi's to haul the grain in, I didn't want to learn to drive the semi's so I enjoy harvest while riding in the combine or taking refreshments out to the field.