Laura: It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s spinach!

Southeast Colorado: I’m not with the crew 100% of the time, especially in the fall when school starts. So when I am there, I try to cook something that Ryan and the crew wouldn’t make on their own or order from a local café. I recently decided to make an Italian meal using ravioli to change things up. Spinach salad and rice crispy treats rounded out the spread.

When planning harvest meals, it’s not always possible to consider the weather, but that can play a real role in the success of dinner time. On this night, storms were in the area. The weather felt weird and heavy at the camper. In fact, I almost called off delivery because the field was a long way out of town, cell phone service is spotty at best in the area, and I figured with my luck, the storm would hit upon arrival. In the end, it was a good thing I decided to go through with it because the storms just slipped by that crew but that didn’t mean we didn’t get wind! The guys were good sports trying to hold their trays steady as I was dishing out the meal, sauce was flying and spinach salad was going airborne. The sticky rice crispy treats held on for dear life. At one point, the wind got a hold of a tray and catapulted ravioli into the field and some of us got sauced! Oh well, it’s all just part of the harvest experience and makes for a good laugh!

The crews wrapped up harvest in southeast Colorado and southwest Kansas. Dryland yields ended on a strong note and ranged anywhere from 70 bushels per acre to even over 100! For folks not familiar with the area and its environment, those are some phenomenal numbers for non-irrigated ground! Test weights were in the low to mid 60s. Protein in Kansas was in the 8 to 10 range. This will definitely be a crop to remember!

High Plains Harvesting 2019
Uh-oh. I’m not sure this one is going to pass the three second rule!

High Plains Harvesting 2019
I decided to eat my rice crispy treat in the safety of the windless car! 

High Plains Harvesting 2019
Quick cell phone snap of the amazing wheat in southwest Kansas.

High Plains Harvesting 2019
This wasn’t the storm day, but you can see that the dust can really fly in the wide open spaces!

High Plains Harvesting 2019
Grain cart heading to the next field with more dust behind!

All Aboard Wheat Harvest is sponsored by High Plains Journal and John Deere. Laura Haffner can be reached at laura@allaboardharvest.com.

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