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!