29 Aug Christy: Torn between the field and home

As the sun went down, Paul pulled out his drone and caught the guys moving fields by Plentywood, Montana. (Photo by Paul Paplow.)

Plentywood, Montana—My last week with the crew on harvest is a tough one. But I am really proud to report that Zoey jumped in with her dad and decided she wanted to try her hand at the controls. She ran a couple rounds for Paul and decided she might want a little more time running combine. I was surprised she weighs enough to hold the seat down and keep the engine running.

No shoes, no problem. Paul took a picture of Zoey running combine for the first time. (Photo by Paul Paplow.)

It comes a little late though, as we made our way back to Iowa today. Zoey’s got to start school here next week, and I am pretty sure she is ready to get back into her school routine. I don’t really like leaving harvest before the guys are done, but it’s important for Zoey to be in school on time.

As we traveled back home, I noticed corn and beans along the way progressed a lot even since my short trip home in July. Hopefully they have continued to get plenty of rain.

Five combines working on Durum by Plentywood, Montana.

Crops by Plentywood are better than what we saw by Fort Benton. Lentils are averaging well at around 40 bushels per acre. Peas did well too rounding out around 40 to 50 bushels per acre, and Durum is averaging anywhere between 25 and 50 bushels per acre. This is a good crop in this area. We still have a few acres to cover here in Plentywood, and then hopefully we’ll get moved over by Fortuna and Ray, North Dakota, here soon.

With a little rain delay, the guys had time to make our bumpers shine again. The grasshoppers are here in droves and really cover them.

There’s probably only about a week and a half left of cutting we’re committed to in North Dakota, it’s just when that week and a half worth of cutting will be ready. It will probably go quickly once we get going, but it looks like those crops could be a week or two off. That will run us a little on the later side this year for wrapping up wheat harvest.

A lot of our college kids have left for home, and the crew coming in seems to be ready for the rest of the season. They’ll certainly have a learning curve to get into our way of doing things, but we’re happy to see replacements. As I’ve said before, we enjoyed having these young kids, and hope they have a great school year.

As great as it is to be at home, it’s hard to not know all the day-to-day happenings in the field. We’ll keep in touch of course, but it’s not the same as being there. Hopefully things go well for these last few weeks on harvest, and the guys get to see more great yields as they keep creeping east into North Dakota.

Christy Paplow can be reached at christy@allaboardharvest.com.

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