Wallace County—Last week started off hot and dry so wheat was drying down in a hurry. By Tuesday afternoon, everyone and their cousin was cutting and you know what can happen next. You guessed it. The lines started to back up at local elevators due to the influx of trucks and strong yields. The kids and I were called in to help relieve some of the stress with the trucks by hopping in a combine so that operator could switch to a truck.

Yields were pleasantly strong in the area between Hoxie and Hill City, Kansas. We saw a range of

Northwest Kansas—Like every good mom of my generation—said jokingly—I have been indoctrinating my children with some 80s and 90s country the last few years. Recently, Alabama has been appearing on our playlist. I mean, who doesn't like a good fiddle solo in the middle of their songs? Classic.

Anyway, back to to the point. "Song of the South" came on the other day and the line "the cotton was short and the weeds were tall" caught my attention and hit home. With the drought, I would tweak my version to, "the wheat was short and the weeds were too."

Full disclosure, thanks

Northwest Kansas—I see a lot of memes that float around on social media that say something to the affect, "If you ate today, thank a farmer."

Now, we are a farm family in addition to being harvesters, and that is certainly a nice sentiment, but ...

There are so many people that work hard behind the scenes to keep the farmers or harvesters going. Case in point, the nice people who were working the Sunday morning shift—not all pictured—at the local John Deere Dealership. Now, if I had to guess, they likely had other things on their wishful weekend list like sleeping

Central Kansas: Yesterday, June 20, was another hot one. Dust was flying as we approached the south side of the field. The crew has been making fast work of the assigned acres due to the heat and the wind. There's a small chance of rain the next couple of days. We hope to finish before that materializes, but I'm watching thunderheads start to pop outside my window. The predicted 87 degrees for tomorrow will be a welcomed break from the 100 degree weather, if even for one day.

In my travels recently, I've had some questions about what type of wheat

New York, New York—Was NYC the last possible location you thought you'd see on today's post? If you would have asked me a few short months ago, I would have felt the same way. Unless I'm forgetting something, for over a decade now, my Junes have been devoted to being within an easy driving distance of or being on-site with our crew. That is, until now.


This was my view on Saturday, then the next night I couldn't be any further from this physical reality! 
In April, I learned I had been selected to American Farm Bureau Federation's "Partners in Advocacy Leadership"

Oklahoma—The heat wave continues and was the gift that kept on giving yesterday for Father's Day. Temperatures have been hovering near 100 degrees. The faucet in the sky has turned off and the winds have picked up.  Wheat is ripening at a very rapid pace northward. Harvest is moving full speed ahead and we're doing our best to keep up.

The heat and winds have allowed us to roll though the acres. After initially waiting out the rain for days and days, I think it's safe to say, the crew are truly "harvesters" now. They're experiencing long days and are starting

Northern Oklahoma—The boys are back in town.

You may recall I recently toured All Aboard Wheat Harvest’s sponsor, Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children’s Edmond campus, the Boys Ranch Town. It was wonderful to be able to see the facilities and really get a feel for what opportunities are available to youth at the site. It really helped further my connection to the program and prepare for their upcoming visit.

On Saturday, June 11, we had the privilege of hosting two youth from the Boys Ranch Town, David and Blaze, with their sponsor, BJ, ranch operations manager at the campus.



Blaze, BJ, David and

Northern Oklahoma-Cheers to being back in the field.



Wow! Who would have thought the weather would have turned out like it has considering how terribly droughty it has been. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised because, more often than not, harvest has brought heavy rains to the run. However, these storms often yielded more than what was forecasted.

We had been out of the field for over a week. That’s enough time to allow your mind to think through all the possible scenarios of delay complications as you watch days tick by. Dwelling too long can lead to an unhealthy place mentally, if

Edmond, Oklahoma–Those who have been part of the All Aboard Wheat Harvest Family for awhile may remember that Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children has helped sponsor the blog for several years. As part of their relationship with the program, they bring youth from their campuses to the harvest field. We and some of the other blog crews show them the ropes but usually end up learning just as much from them as they do us.

Recently, I reached out to Bo Blakey, executive director at the Boys Ranch Town in Edmond, to start the conversation about hosting students this season. I

Texas: It was a quick in and out stop for Texas this year, a far cry from the time we normally put in through this region.

What was the culprit for the change? Drought.

The drought is widespread through the country this year and affects much of the western midwest and western United States. Unfortunately, our harvest trail follows much of the affected area. I have included a picture from the University of Nebraska’s drought monitor below. I hope that diagram will help paint a picture of just how serious the problem is in places.


UNL's drought monitor. (Photo Source https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx.)

In our region