07 Aug Steph: Final Days in Hemingford, Neb.
Where, oh where, has the summer gone? Osowski Ag Service is now all packed up and ready to return to our stomping ground in Grafton, N.D. The half circle we were waiting on ripened up nicely and we were able to finish in just a few short hours and still had enough time to get everything ready to make the trek home. We like when that happens. Our third and final farmer here in Hemingford averaged 91 bushels per acre on his irrigated and 45 on dryland.
The last few days around here have been odd, but typical for the end of our southern harvest, especially if green wheat gets in the way. We would go out to the field with high hopes, only to make a round and have to park back where we started. We all stand around at the end of the field staring at each other, wondering what to do next. Everyone is anxious to get home because at this point the camper feels like the size of a cardboard box.
So something funny but incredibly true has come to my attention; the love between person and ball cap. How many of you can say you have that one ball cap that you love more than all the others? The one that is perfectly broken in, a little dirty, has holes, but it’s still your favorite? I know for a fact that I do. It doesn’t matter how many ball caps you buy or receive for free from establishments, there is always going to be that one ball cap that, regardless of the wear and tear, you will pick it from the pile to wear day in and day out. Mine happens to be a New Holland hat I got from the harvest convention a couple years ago and let me tell you, it has seen better days, but it fits like a glove.
Quote of the Day: “I didn’t recognize you without your hat and sunglasses on.”
You might be a harvester if…you switch genres frequently because you listen to the radio so much that you know every word to every song.
Finishing up a few corners.
The wildflowers around here are so pretty.
Gotta love irrigation.
Mom coming at me with the header trailer.
Windmill and a lone cow.
Dad has a fan!
Mom, why so serious?
What a sky, huh?
Harvest nights are the best nights.
All Aboard Wheat Harvest™ is sponsored by High Plains Journal and New Holland Agriculture. Steph can be contacted at stephanie@allaboardharvest.com.
Monte Waldron
Posted at 07:29h, 08 AugustStep I live in Texas and I am semi retired at 77 but still farm and raise a few cattle. I just wanted to tell you how much I love your photos they are very nice . Hope to see you back next year
Dan McGrew
Posted at 13:53h, 08 AugustSteph,
Ain’t it a wonderful land where the “Russian Peanut” fields in bloom, are remarkably similar to the “wildflowers” in the fence rows and roadside ditches.
Actually your 2014 ball caps are descendants of the battered straw hats of the 1800s to post mid-1900s.
My father stood atop the threshing machine for three years wearing the remnants of a straw hat (Half the brim and much of the crown were eaten by the water boy’s pony during a threshing dinner break.)
He liked the way the hat band fit, ignoring the sun pouring in on his scalp. (Eventual result — he fought skin cancer from 1964 until his death in ’89.)
About that time, realizing how sunburned he was getting, I started wearing as “Jungle Jim” pith helmet — and got thoroughly “hurrahed” as a result — but even though much fairer skinned than my dad, never had to worry about skin cancer.
Allan Zimmerman
Posted at 13:53h, 09 AugustHi steph corn farmer from north central Illinois at Compton a small dot on map.Thank you for all the beautiful pictures and sharing your family harvest adventure with us. Hope all goes well with fall harvest in North Dakota and your future plans.