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harvest Tag

13 Jun

Posted at 16:41h in 2017, aawh, All Aboard, Crop Updates, harvest, High Plains Journal, John Deere, New Holland, Photos, Sponsors, Stephanie, stories, Syngenta, wheat by
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Apache, Oklahoma - Have I mentioned how much I love small town America? Because I really do. For today's small town love demonstration, I will tell you that the bank had an area setup at the elevator and was cooking burgers for all the harvest crews. As I was un-tarping, one of the ladies asked me how many were in my crew. Upon hearing my response of, "There's just 3 of us," she replied, "Okay, we will make you 10 burgers then." I mean, who I am to turn down free food?

I thought about not posting about this next incident but, it might be exactly what someone out there needs to read to feel better about their own mishap. I'm just gonna go for it. So the other day, I hauled to a new elevator. When you drive truck for a harvest crew, this can be a daily occurrence. Elevators come in all shapes and sizes as well as the scales and pits that go with them. Short, tall, skinny, fat, fast, slow - they make them all sorts of ways. Today's featured scale is skinny. When the scale workers didn't recognize my truck with my first load, they automatically came out to spot me.

11 Jun

Posted at 12:00h in 2017, aawh, All Aboard, New Holland, wheat, Z Crew by
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Claude, Texas - We've made two test cuts within the past couple of days (6/8 and 6/9). The first result was 20 percent and the second (which was just Thursday) was 17.2 percent. It was 60 degrees this morning. Needless to say, I grabbed the sweatshirt as I headed down the steps to make our morning coffee. Great conditions for humans living in a trailer house but not good wheat cutting weather! 

Jim's been tinkering on trucks and the Yellow Beast - mostly just to stay busy (I think), but I know there were some things he put off at home hoping he'd have some time before we got started down here. After taking the first test cut, he realized he had a minor issue with the air conditioning in the combine, so it meant a trip to the New Holland Harvest Support trailer. And... a good excuse to hit the Amarillo Walmart. 

09 Jun

Posted at 16:15h in 2017, aawh, All Aboard, High Plains Journal, New Holland, wheat, Z Crew by
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Claude, Texas - We made it!

It's always a good feeling after you've worked so hard to get to the point of driving out of the yard and pointing the trucks south. The transition of "home, home" and harvest has been solidified, and there's no going back. The feeling of arriving at your destination, however, is even better! This is especially true if you made it there with little to no issues. We had no issues. Oh...wait...I'm wrong. There was one wheel seal on the Pete that started leaking. Jim noticed it on Monday morning just as we were getting ready to leave Hays, Kansas.

06 Jun

Posted at 08:05h in 2017, aawh, All Aboard, Crop Updates, harvest, High Plains Journal, John Deere, New Holland, Photos, Sponsors, Stephanie, stories, Syngenta, wheat by
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Apache, Oklahoma - There's something about finishing up harvest at a stop and just as the back wheels of the combine touch the combine trailer, a light drizzle of rain starts across the area. It's almost like Mother Nature saying, "Hey, here's to a job well done." It's the perfect ending and an even more perfect sendoff, because traveling in the rain is easy on the tires. 

We have now moved to our next stop on the harvest trail -- Apache, Oklahoma. John has had a couple guys from this area work for him before, so it's nice to have some locals to help us out. For example, the first night we got to town, it was later in the day. The campground was seemingly empty and dark with no signs of phone numbers to change that status. Well, it may have appeared that way to a passerby; but when you know a local, he can phone the owner because he's obviously a friend of his. Everyone knows everyone in small towns, and it's a beautiful thing.

05 Jun

Posted at 11:51h in 2017, aawh, High Plains Journal, Z Crew by
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Manley, Nebraska - I have sort of a surreal feeling this morning. It's the last full day of being "home, home." Home, home...wondering where that phrase came from? It's something the girls started years ago. When they talked about "home," it was the trailer house. When they talked about "home, home," it was Manley. It's stuck. And what's even more interesting...I hear other harvesters refer to their homes in the same way. That's weird, but it works. Now you know.

I was laying in bed this morning trying to take in all the noise that Callie was creating. She was up early this morning getting ready to go to work - her "normal" routine. Normal is good. Even the most normal of activities should be appreciated and loved. You never know when that "normal" is going to change. And isn't life all about change? Anyways...I wanted to just lay there and soak it all in because I know once we leave, it won't be the same when we return. She'll be back to school and the house will, once again, be quiet. I've enjoyed having her home so much. So much! 

04 Jun

Posted at 18:45h in 2017, aawh, All Aboard, harvest, High Plains Journal, HPH, Laura, Photos, stories by
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Clay County, Texas - Journeying along the harvest trail in the summer is not exactly conducive to an elaborate vegetable garden though I admit I did plant a lonely cucumber and pumpkin plant for the kids in hopes it would catch just enough rain until we make it for our home stop. My lack of garden is probably why I love a good farmer's markets on the trail. Getting produce picked at the peak of freshness and the fun of the actual market is a win-win. So when I learned of a "pick your own strawberries" event at a patch not too far down the road, I knew we had to do it to give the kids at least a partial garden experience. To put it mildly, it was a hit as you'll see from the pictures below.

31 May

Posted at 17:50h in 2017, aawh, All Aboard, Crop Updates, harvest, High Plains Journal, John Deere, Photos, Sponsors, Stephanie, stories, wheat by
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Gilliland, TX - Statistically, I don't think I want to know how many hours of my life I've spent driving. If someone were to insert the total hours of my life into some magical stat machine, I would bet 75% or more of those hours have been spent behind a steering wheel of assorted vehicles, trucks and machinery. I was once told that I drive a combine so casually it's as if I'm driving a car. But, it's what I love, so I wouldn't want it any other way.

We spent all of Sunday working on equipment -- a true harvester Sunday fun-day. It wasn't on purpose though. We started off the day with good intentions; but when it smells like there's a bonfire in your cab, something is certainly wrong. We came to find we had a bearing go out on the re-thrasher that needed to be replaced. Not only that, but we also had to made a phone call to the MacDon Harvest Support guys to come and calibrate/check our header. It was the best time for it to happen if there ever was one.

29 May

Posted at 09:15h in 2017, aawh, All Aboard, Crop Updates, harvest, High Plains Journal, John Deere, New Holland, Photos, Sponsors, Stephanie, stories, Syngenta, wheat by
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Gilliland, Texas - It takes me exactly 27 minutes and 14 seconds to get from the field to the elevator, scale/probe, unload, scale and get back to the field. However, I've never had the opportunity to combine a 450-acre field of wheat (talk about heaven -- 450 acres without changing fields ONCE), so John got pushed outta the driver's seat, and I hopped in. I also wanted to see what these red machines are all about. My review, you ask? It's pretty awesome. Our wheat stats have stayed about the same with 20-25 bushels per acre and 58-60 pound test weights.

My buddy seat was occupied for awhile today by Miss Breanna. She is Farmer Glen's niece, and we had ourselves a time. We spent a good portion of the afternoon talking about our favorite colors, swapping stories and singing along to Shania Twain on the radio. She also likes Johnny Cash, and said she would have ridden in the combine with me all day long -- a girl truly after my own heart. She climbed off the combine, and then shortly after climbed right back up the ladder to give me a hug so, I'd be lying if I said she didn't take a little piece of it with her.

26 May

Posted at 15:45h in 2017, aawh, All Aboard, Crop Updates, harvest, High Plains Journal, John Deere, New Holland, Photos, Sponsors, Stephanie, stories, Syngenta, wheat by
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Gilliland, Texas - You know how they say everything is bigger in Texas? That's no lie. I kid you not. I had a mosquito the size of a quarter bite me today. Around dusk, Josh the Elevator Worker and I had to dance around like fools while unloading my truck in an attempt to keep them away. Not like it worked much -- my arms and neck are covered in little red welts. Battle scars on the first full day of cutting, what more could you ask for? Harvest is HERE. The yields are between 20-25 bushels per acre with test weights coming in at 58 pounds. With a whopping distance of four miles to haul the grain in to the elevator, we are seeing some major progress and were able to do 250 acres on day one with our combine.

24 May

Posted at 11:45h in 2017, All Aboard, High Plains Journal, John Deere, Z Crew by
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Manley, Nebraska - It's Harvest Time...NOT harvest time.

I was laying in bed the other morning and almost got a bit giddy thinking about harvest. This was not because we'll be escaping home or because of the adventures we're surely going to experience or because of the first swath made, marking the beginning of harvest 2017. Nope, it was the idea of escaping the clock and the schedules of home.

This is THE most difficult part about coming home in the fall. Most people haven't a clue what the heck I'm even talking about (and this is unfortunate).