15 Jul Steph: Life in Sainty

Oh St. Francis, Kan., you are just so difficult for us to leave. The other day, we were ready to ship out. The combine was cleaned off, the header trailer was hooked up, Purple was hooked onto the hopper bottom and we were all in the state of mind that would lead us to Nebraska. You know what they say about the best laid plans; they never work out exactly how you plan. The following morning, we woke up and started preparing the camper for take-off. Dad came back from getting ice for the cooler with that look on his face that says he has been up to something. Sure enough, he made the announcement that he was approached with more acres, and to get ready to road equipment right back in the same direction we came from. However, at our next stop, we only have 80 acres, so we can’t complain about gaining more acres here.

The last couple days haven’t exactly been the most productive. We have been getting rain towards evening which has pushed back our start time for the following day. The farmer we are now harvesting for is organic, so he stores all his grain in bins without dryers, meaning the grain has to be at a lower moisture percentage than if it was hauled to the elevator. We have been spending time at the combines still, cleaning them and giving them some extra special attention.

There is no shortage of social time when you are servicing equipment in a small rural town. Not only do your own farmers stop by, but the neighboring ones do as well. After completing all we wanted for today, dad and I decided to sit on the service truck and relax. Not long after, a neighboring farmer drove up in his ranger. Upon approaching, he said “Oh I’m sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt father/daughter boding.” Dad and I had to laugh at this. This is harvest time, every day is father/daughter bonding! Also, we were visiting with our farmer who, like my dad, is also named Bob. I always enjoy listening to them because they are so alike in their thinking and vocabulary. Between swapping farm stories and Farmer Bob’s fun and witty comments, there is no shortage of laughs.

Quote of the Day: “If you can’t get it in St. Francis, you don’t need it.”

Harvest Tip: Harvest time may be about work, but being social will get you a long way.

My favorite elevator crew guys. They have been helping me out ever since we first started coming here 6 years ago and are always so fun! From left to right: Martine, Steph, Gail and Buster.

Close to the bins!

Monitoring how full the bin is getting.

No rain, no rainbows.

Nice lineup.

With our spare time, we took a drive to the mountains in Colorado.

While we were driving up this, a caution light started blinking on the dash. We then noticed that were about out of gas aabout halfway to the top. Needless to say, we turned right back around and hit up the nearest gas station. All those mountains were very distracting.

All Aboard Wheat Harvest™ is sponsored by High Plains Journal and New Holland Agriculture. Steph can be contacted at stephanie@allaboardharvest.com.