Busy harvest days of summer

Scooter testing for harvest readiness with the 'crunch test'

The week has flown by! Like a kite on a string that’s taking you for the ride. Zooming along at a speedy 3.5 miles per hour but still. Or maybe it was the tune of crackling POP’s that filled with the air on Tuesday as canned beets and pickles sealed.

Harvesting canola

The canola swaths steadily feed into the hungry combine and the rich, black grain fills the tank. Hubs stays out of trouble trucking the grain from field to bin. I was only on the combine for a hot minute this week. Sad.

Hazy, dusty days at work

The ‘normal’ duties called to me. Not like a siren, more like ‘drag yourself to the gym because you ‘have’ to but really you’d rather be on the couch and watch tv while eating junk food.’ It’s beautiful weather outside, the sun is shining (or trying to through the thick smoky haze lately) and there’s a nice breeze. All that makes me feel like the first days of school again where I’d rather be outside than inside.

This dog is always ready to ride

Someone has to do the bookwork, perhaps file a few papers to make it look like something got done, rifle through the mail and buy the groceries. Food is good and eating that food is even better. Evens out the hangry side effects of long days in the field. Uff da.

Hubs sprayed a desiccation blend on the edible beans to even out the drying and prepare them for undercutting. This week he’ll begin the undercutting of the beans (and swathed) and hopefully close to the week’s end I’ll be back in the combine harvesting edibles. Wahoo!

Adjusting the spacing

He and his dad are finishing the canola today as I write this (again, I’m stuck with the normal duties of life and I should probably meal prep for the week if I’m going to be on the combine); with maybe a bit left for tomorrow.

Final adjustments on row spacing

Everyone is happy with the yields with the caveat of better than expected, considering the drought and the inconsistent, spotty rain showers.

With this crazy drought we’re on the fast track for harvest to be done here before I go south snow bird-style for harvest in SD. It just boggles my mind. We’re very thankful to have average to good yields and we know that our heavenly Father has been watching over us.

With the lack of rain, the lawn grass has died but I still have to mow because of the weeds that are somehow cropping up. Sigh. However, the garden is the only green spot on the yard (thanks to daily evening watering) as the trees think its fall and are turning the brilliant hues of autumn. And it’s way too early to begin raking leaves… so I think I’ll use the lawn mower to shred them to bits.

May your week be full of happy days of harvest, summer festivals and iced coffee.

Ready to undercut the edibles

Harvest August style

Panorama of my office view

Monday, we meet again. It’s been too soon. Really. Didn’t we meet last week? And agree to meet up a looong time from now? The week has flown by, the hours mysteriously vanished and my butt is flatter than a box. Not in a good way. It comes with the dubious honor of spending so much quality time in the combine cab, reigning from the throne. If one can reign over a field harvest in progress, that is.

In upbeat news, the wheat harvest has been completed with few mishaps and a better-than-expected yields (considering the drought). 

Onwards to canola! At least with canola, it’s swathed, cut to lay in giant strips across the field and this aids in the drying process and helps reduce pod shatter (loss of the grain). And bonus, since it’s swathed it means that driving in a straight line is easy and also unnecessary. I just have to follow the swath. (Because I still don’t drive a straight, beautiful line for a perfect, clean cut edge in the wheat field. You have to take in the sights, the same sights every round but still.)

What makes harvest in August so different? Well, for one, its August. My farming life before meant August was the month you finished hauling and shoveling out the grain bins. It’s a slightly different experience, harvesting in the high heat of August. This past week has been filled with heat extremes, little wind and a heavy haze from forest fires out west.

Supervisor is happy with the job so far

 Needless to say, my cab is dialed to arctic temps. I and the farm dog prefer it. All that glass you know really warms up the cab quickly. Scooter prefers the vast expanse of the floor and he takes up all of it.

Somehow there’s still room for my tote of water bottles, including one for the dog and his water bowl. Hubs will usually bring kibble for the dog but since its so hot Scooter ignores his food till the cooler evenings.

Unloading on the go while attempting to drive straight and not miss any wheat is always a question. Will I get all the wheat or will I get sucked into focusing on how close the tractor tires are to my 

header?

Then I look at my auger and see that its farther over the grain cart than it should be and a quick glance ahead shows that, yup, I definitely will have some swerves to even out going back on the next round. And maybe I don’t need to be within about a foot of the grain cart tractor tires. Sometimes it feels like magnets. The grain cart edges closer and the combine drifts over and then I and the grain cart driver both realize it at the same time and we gently drift apart.

Almost time to walk home :)

And the fun aspect of working close to home? Is that I can catch a ride to work in the semi (it’s been way too hot high 90’s F, 30’s C; to walk to work, especially with the farm dog) and at the end of the day I can walk home. What’s a mile or two when you’ve driven many but haven’t actually walked anywhere all day? The bugs I didn’t count on though. You can’t see them from the cab as they don’t hit the windshield like a car on the interstate. And those little black gnats swoop in from nowhere and hover over my head like my own personal text bubble. One that bites.

Power walking ensues. In cowboy boots. And there may have been some muttering.  Scooter was not impressed. It’s not too bad really and it was a good opportunity to break them in well. Then the next day it hits me that maybe they weren’t the best choice of footwear or else perhaps a slower walk would have been advisable. Scooter was just fine. His only side effect was a deep sleep from the exercise. 

May your week be summery (but not too hot), preferably near a beach and an iced latte nearby (pumpkin latte season is coming soon!). 

Future pumpkin puree (and pumpkin latte) right here! This could get up to 100lbs, I hope not!

Combining history one swath at a time

More combines than the camera could capture

A week ago today… The sun rose through sleepy mists of drizzling rain and heavy fog (finally some rain!). The combine had been parked at the wheat field the night before, an hour and a half drive, well, at top road speed for a combine. A quick check of the email to see if there was a cancellation (there was none) as the radar showed rain all around.

Coffee mugs loaded, water and some snacks and we were off! Hubs had to be there early for a safety brief. Me, I remember many a safety brief and I was definitely headed off to the local coffeehouse. 

We ran into our friends that had brought their combine up as well. Us ladies left the men to their safety briefing. We wore our t-shirts that were made to commemorate the event and our special pink stickers that got us into the combine area.

Over 300 combines from around the area here in Canuckland had rumbled and rolled in last night or early this morning. All had flags waving from the safety railing by the operator’s door. We heard that the flags represented the areas were the Children’s Camps International had locations.

What exactly were over 300 combines doing on a wheat field?

Well, it was a Harvest for Kids fundraiser for the Children’s Camps International and the goal was to raise enough money to send one million children to camp. CCI’s camps are an evangelical, non-denominational ministry with outreach around the world since 2003. The Harvest for Kids project was started to help raise more awareness for CCI and as a way to involve the agriculture community. 

For more info check out their website at http://ccicamps.com/about/ and for their press release with excellent aerial photos go here http://ccicamps.com/media/.

Turns out the rain had missed the field where the big event and attempt at a Guinness World Record was held. After our coffee we went back and picked up the guys and headed out to our combines. Our friends were located at the far end of the west side of the field and we were more in the middle. 

The day quickly cleared of clouds and the sun blazed hot. Swaths of golden wheat laid in perfectly straight rows before each combine. Thousands of community members gathered to watch the harvest challenge.

Excitement and anticipation filled the air.

At the appointed hour, each combine rumbled to life, then the pick up headers were engaged and operators attentively watched the flagmen on their atv’s. At the signal we crawled forward at a whopping speed of 1.5 miles per hour. 

I had my and hubs’ camera phones going. Haha. I used hubs’ to take videos and mine to take photos. The harvest only lasted eight minutes but it was… Amazing. So cool to see that many combines all around you. 

And as we neared the end of the swath, through the rising fog of dust, the ghostly forms of the other line of combines appeared. Like chargers steadily advancing. Such an eerie sight. 

Cruising to the finish through the fog of harvest

Turns out 303 combines successfully completed their runs. 

The grand finish

 Then an orderly exit and unloading followed. I have to say, the event was well organized and all participants enjoyed the moment and being part of something bigger. As each combine passed by, as we waited our turn to unload, everyone was all smiles and waving. Agriculture truly is a community, one large extended family. 

The recessional begins

 It was fun to know, and be a part of, a world record. We did it because it was in support of a worthy cause and an event that really brings in the ag community (our friends, neighbors) on such a large scale was a social event highlight.

We found our original spot and parked the combine. As everyone unloaded their grain tanks the mass exodus began immediately. Plumes of dust kicked up, reaching towards the sky as combine after combine galloped to the exit (well, sedately trotted). Safety first and it was a long line out.

The long drive home

 There’s nothing quite like seeing 303 combines begin to head home. It really puts a new spin on traffic jam.

We soaked up the sun and the moment, watching so many combines head for home. A gentle breeze sifted through the dust and swirled in tiny eddies in the powdery soil. Our friends came and parked next to us. A rare time that we could all be together, including the combines.

Hubs and good friend with their combines

What a fun day and what a memory.

May your weekend be spend enjoying life’s moments, harvest time and iced coffee.

PS for videos and a few other photos check out my Insta or Facebook :)

Hubs and I before the harvest