All Aboard Harvest | Laura Haffner
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Author: Laura Haffner

13 Jun

Posted at 10:00h in 2018, aawh, All Aboard, All Aboard News, harvest, High Plains Harvesting, High Plains Journal, HPH, Laura, Sponsors, wheat by
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North Texas - Early into our Texas stop we had a group of special visitors from the Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children. Three young men, Shane, Josiah, and Patrick, and their sponsors Jim and Don, made the trip to experience the prime cutting weather with...

05 Aug

Posted at 17:10h in 2017, aawh, All Aboard, harvest, High Plains Harvesting, High Plains Journal, HPH, Laura, stories by
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North Central, North Dakota - We've been a little light on the news lately, but no news is sometimes just no news. The last several days have been consumed with making the big moves to North Dakota, and the crew in Montana moved just shy of the Canadian border. It takes a lot of effort to make those moves from arranging all the travel permits to the actual miles and trips it takes to get there. We are thankful to be cutting here in North Dakota as they've been very dry this season. Our farmer is currently having us cut peas. The process is similar to harvesting soybeans. We switched out concaves and are using flex draper headers. They have recently caught some much needed rain.  The guys hope to be back in the field in the next couple days. I wish I could take credit for the clever title, but it was all Ryan!  He also contributed the moose photos below. I was on the phone with him the other night when he popped over the hill and saw this moose. It was fun to witness with him, even though I wasn't in the truck too. It's not something a Kansan sees everyday!

29 Jul

Posted at 13:30h in 2017, aawh, All Aboard, harvest, High Plains Harvesting, High Plains Journal, HPH, John Deere, Laura, stories, wheat by
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Northeast Colorado - The other night Pieter had machinery issues so stopped in the field, got out of the cab, and hopped off the ladder. Immediately he knew something was wrong. Ryan said he was yelling over the noise of the combine about there being a snake. Ryan thought he was just imagining things as it would be hard to hear a rattle over the roar of the motor. Pieter kept yelling and pointing. When Ryan shined his light in the direction Pieter was pointing, sure enough, there was a rattle snake coiled up and ready to strike.

25 Jul

Posted at 13:00h in 2017, aawh, All Aboard, Crop Updates, harvest, High Plains Harvesting, HPH, John Deere, Laura, Photos, wheat by
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Hardin, Montana - Things can get pretty dry in Montana in the summer. That doesn't sound like that unusual because a lot of places get dry. However, it takes on a different meaning when you're dealing with some of the desolate areas that make up the state. There aren't always the square north/south or east/west roads every mile or so like you find in some parts of the plains. If lightning strikes, and a fire starts, it's not always very easy to fight because of the very remote, and often rough terrain. Same can be true for a fire started by harvest equipment. The fields in the part of the world can be very large, I'm talking 1000+ acres. If a fire starts and blows through a field, the consequences can be devastating and extremely difficult to fight. Crews are often driven from the field for rain, but at this stop, the crews have been asked to shut down when the fire risk seems especially high, which is completely understandable.  There are disastrous fires currently burning in the state.

24 Jul

Posted at 14:30h in 2017, aawh, All Aboard, Crop Updates, harvest, High Plains Harvesting, High Plains Journal, HPH, John Deere, Laura, Photos, stories, wheat by
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Hardin, Montana - For those of you who have been waiting for the Montana pictures, well, you're in luck. They're starting to trickle in. Montana usually seems to be a highlight for the crew and readers probably because it so unique environmentally. They don't call it "Big Sky Country" for nothing! The report from Mark and the crew up in Montana is that they're cutting in absolutely beautiful country. They've seen lots of deer and other various forms of wildlife. The harvest has been respectable too. At the first farm, they've seen yields mainly in the 40-60 range with spikes all the way up to 100 bushels per acre. Below are some photos they've sent in.

22 Jul

Posted at 10:13h in 2017, aawh, All Aboard, harvest, High Plains Harvesting, HPH, Laura, Photos, stories, wheat by
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Eastern Colorado - Due to a lack of urban centers, I'm guessing a lot of people would deem where we're currently cutting the middle of nowhere. It is true we are miles and miles from the nearest village or town, but despite all that, "I" would say we're in the middle of somewhere. That somewhere is beautiful. Brave little houses and farmsteads dot the landscape -- those few still willing to take on the unpredictable windswept prairie. Signs of days gone by are here too. I see the abandoned one-room school house and the occasional forgotten skeleton of a house that was once a happy home. Who were these people that once inhabited these spots, and what became of them? Song birds flutter on the breeze. The swish-swish of wheat and grass can be heard, and in the words of Louis Lamar, "The wind, always the wind." Cattle peacefully chew the grass. And the view... one can see for miles. 

It's out here that there are few distractions. One can think out here, breathe out here, and just be. Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky that I am to see these places that most rarely, if ever do. I have to think that a lot of the world's problems could be overcome if we just took a little R&R on the prairie to clear the air in our souls and minds.