15 May Emma: Welcoming the 2012 Harvest with Open Arms

The Miseners have been very busy since my last post in December and I have some catching up to do!

Nothing has really changed for us because we’re still up and down the roads. After we made the long haul home after the 2011 fall harvest we took a well deserved vacation to Montana to spend the holidays with my grandparents. We also headed to Grand Island, Neb., for the U.S. Custom Harvesters Annual Convention. We had a chance to see and catch up with our fellow harvesters.

We visited Davenport, Iowa for the “Gathering of the Green” convention held every other year. The convention is a gathering of antique John Deere enthusiasts, and that’s right up our alley! When things finally settled down we were able to start working on the winter business of repairing combines and antique tractors. The repairing business was sidelined this year because harvest has been early. Harvesters have had to pick up the pace to get their equipment ready, loaded and hauled south much earlier than expected. We welcomed the unanticipated push south because last year’s crop was such a disaster, and this year’s crop looks to be much better.

I am looking forward to this year’s harvest and from the looks of it we’re only a few short days away here in Elk City, Okla. My brother, Dan, went out to check fields earlier today and we’re estimating moisture to be around 18 percent. Hopefully sometime this week we’ll be in the fields testing south of Elk City.

Several harvesters have already started their summer wheat harvest in Texas, and southern Oklahoma. I can’t remember a summer harvest this early, but I guess that’s the life of a harvester. You just never know what to expect.

The Miseners: My mom, Kristy. My brother, Dan, and me, Emma. We couldn’t forget our dogs Heidi and Jesse.

All Aboard Wheat Harvest is sponsored by High Plains Journal and Syngenta.
Emma Misener can be reached at emma@allaboardharvest.com