21 Sep Laura: One crew back, one more to go…

Each trip with a happy ending is a blessing and I’m happy to report our North Dakota crew made it back to headquarters safely.

As previously discussed, the yields were strong in North Dakota this year. That is something to celebrate. However, weather and green crop stretched things out longer than they would have liked. A couple days down in the camper isn’t bad to get caught up on sleep, laundry and run a few errands. More than that, consecutively, can start to get on one’s nerves and frustration can set in. There’s only so many repairs to make, so much laundry to fold and repack, and conversations to have after weeks on the road. I’m proud of them for making the best of it and completing all their assigned acres.

Once they were home, preparation began to convert the machines for corn harvest. Rain and an unusual cold snap, some of which crushed temperature records, delayed corn harvest a few days and allowed a little extra prep time. The children and I have been making weekly trips to the farm for yard maintenance and improvement projects that get pushed aside in the summer months on the road, so we were able to see some of the work in progress. On the last evening before corn harvest began, we had a little team building that involved blue rock. It was the perfect way to shoot us into fall harvest. Pun intended.

Line ’em up, boys! (Photo by Ryan.)

Harvesting canola in North Dakota. (Photo by Ryan.)

Canola ready to head to the bin. (Photo by Ryan.)

Combines continue to make passes to load the next truck. (Photo by Ryan.)

Cy and Mark with some teamwork on the header.

Gabe blowing off the header.

Mark is making repairs to the header.

Little Man having fun on the little bike at the HPH HQ.

It’s a hard job, but someone has to make sure the shop stool wheels spin!

A recent visitor to the neighborhood. A healthy little fella.

Painting has to be one of my least favorite chores, but what a difference it can make, so I guess I’ll keep on doing it!

Zoom in on this picture and you can see the load chasing Garret’s clay. Ryno spent most of the time on pulling duty and we all appreciated his help!

Ryno—not to be confused with Ryan—got away from the launcher to shoot a few himself!

Even I got in on the action and had some hits, but I think Cy cleaned up my miss on this one. (Photo by Mark.)

We’ve been spoiled lately. Mark M. made us a South African dish called “potjie.” Its almost a stew type consistency but the sauce tastes more like gravy. He uses lamb for the meat and it was incredibly good. He also made one pan veggie free (yippee!) because some of us adults don’t eat our veggies like we should.

All Aboard Wheat Harvest is sponsored by Unverferth Manufacturing Co., Inc., Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children, Agri-Pro, Gleaner, BASF, and High Plains Journal. Laura can be reached at laura@allaboardharvest.com.