Harvest Notes and Highlights

Harvest can be a frenzied, busy time.  Imagine if all your income for the year came in in about the span of one month.  You'd be pretty frazzled, yourself, I imagine.  It's like working December in a retail store, or tax time leading up to April 15 for an accountant.  There's a lot of hard work riding on a successful harvest, and we spend the whole year leading up to it.  The last "Official" day of harvest for us was yesterday.  It was a long one, this year. Or at least, that's what it felt like!  The first day Jeff and I started cutting peas was July 28.  On August 28, we finished cutting all of Tom and Carol's spring wheat.  We left about 80 acres of our own spring wheat to finish ripening, and just cut the last of it yesterday afternoon. 

It may have seemed a lot longer than previous years, but when I went back through my old calendars and blog posts from my first two harvests, the length of time was really about the same.  Last year we cut from July 25 - August 25, with no breaks.  Check out this synopsis of last year's harvest: Fall Roundup 2012.  The year before was about the same.  This year, if you count that last 80 acres cut after everything else by only a few days, it was just a bit longer.  Otherwise, it was exactly the same number of days as the previous year. 

I would argue that this year we were more efficient with our harvest operations.  We actually had more rained-out, non-cutting days this year.  From July 28- August 28, there were six days where we did no cutting whatsoever, either due to weather or machinery issues.  In 2012, there was only one day where we did no cutting in the same overall length of time. Additionally, last year and in 2011 we had multiple combines running and multiple truck drivers for parts of harvest. This year, it was just one combine and one truck driver throughout the entirety of harvest.  So, not only was there less time spent harvesting the same amount of crop this year, it was done with fewer people/machines.  I am not sure what to attribute this to other than efficient cutting and a new-to-us combine that could go faster than the old one.

Farmers all throughout are area are very happy with this year's crop.  We had a lot of late-season rain that really boosted the bushels for all different types of crops.  We are no exception.  We also, once again, avoided the worst of the hail that hit some of our friends and neighbors, and scraped away with only minimal damage.  I am sure that future harvests will not always be this way, but for this year, it's nice to relish the success and be around happy farmers, friends, and neighbors, many of whom say they have never had a harvest this good.

Another big highlight for me was learning how to run the combine, which you can read about here: Just Like Riding a Bike.  Hopefully, the next time I drive combine will be just like riding a bike in terms of my memory of doing it, but somehow I doubt that.  On the planning call for the Women's Conference last week, there was lots of talk about how we as women feel restricted sometimes by our inability to operate farm machinery.  Many of us either did not grow up in agriculture or grew up in traditional-gender-roll households where women/girls did not learn to operate machinery.  I, for one, need more practice and repetition at using implements, but it is nevertheless somewhat empowering to be able to say, "I can do that, too."

A great crop and new experiences made this year's harvest unforgettable.  Now, our wheat, peas, and barley are ready to feed people all over the world.  And we are ready for a break!  :)  Happy Labor Day and Happy Fall, to all! 

The sun setting over the last day of harvest in a hazy red sky. Until next year!