View from the Cab: Appreciating harvest
By: Kent Casson
Harvest is in the air around here and we couldn’t have asked for better October weather so far.
It feels good to get behind the controls of the combine yet again for another season. Skies have been blue, the dust is flying and my coffee is at arm’s reach. I must admit combining is much more pleasant when cash soybean prices top $10.00. It makes those not-so-great yielding areas of a field tolerable.
One never gets too tired of operating a single piece of equipment on our farm as we are always rotating between the auger cart, combine and truck. I like to consider myself a jack of all trades but the others I work with may disagree on that one.
The kids have been able to spend quite a bit of time in the cab during the past couple of weeks. They did their homework out in the field one afternoon and rode along for the fun of it the other times. Rebecca often brings the kids out to see me and that’s the highlight of the week.
Our two older ones are starting to become combine and auger cart operators in training. Kenadee and Kasen can both keep a straight line when traveling through the field but little Kaislee needs some practice. I guess that’s alright since she is only one. She can move the levers and reach for the turn signal well.
The annual family fall birthday season is also upon us. Rebecca’s birthday was back on September 29, Kenadee turned six on October 1, my birthday was last Thursday, Kaislee celebrates the big two October 29 and Kasen turns 10 on November 8. Where does the time go?
I realize during harvest we have to move fast to try and get all of the crops in, but sometimes you have to just stop and appreciate the small things. That’s why we take off each evening of our birthdays to celebrate with cake and dinner. The fieldwork can wait a few hours – it will be there the next day.
Hopefully all of the farmers out there continue working safely to bring in the 2020 crops. It would be great if the awesome fall weather could continue for a few more weeks as we all finish out the season. It was almost a year ago when we had all of that unexpected snow around Halloween.
