Harvest Scenes: The People

Harvest time is about cutting the crop, safely putting a hard year's worth of work in the bin. 

Hail storms have been avoided and our fields somehow escaped the ravage of the grasshoppers without the expense and danger of the insecticides that make me so nervous.

Harvest is also about the social aspect of life.  People and beautiful scenery are what it make it enjoyable.  Long days and late evenings on the combine make my little boy's heart go pitter-patter. 

We enjoy the good company of our family from nearby,

and we were fascinated with the custom combiners that we hired to help us harvest the forage peas and winter wheat.   Most of these harvesters operate their businesses out of home bases throughout the Midwest.  Interestingly enough, a great majority of their workers come from South Africa or Scandinavia.  Seems the young Americans don't want to travel their own country from south to north, taking in the beauty of the country, operating half million dollar machines and making money.  Surprising, huh?  Is it the work that scares them?  Or the camaraderie?

While we see neighbors busily working and new faces in town, the best part of all is the extra time spent with my family.  We are captive in wheat trucks, pick-ups and combines with an occasional break to run wild across the prairie while waiting for a vehicle to move us to the next location. 

Danish Cowboy is at turns sun-kissed, greasy, dusty, and (according to my daughter) stinky.  Most of all though, he is excited.  Harvest brings about great memories for him from childhood and he has reveled in sharing those experiences with his kids.

 True, those experiences involve a lot of sugar and late nights, but they will never forget the richness of this life at this time of the year.  The colors, the sights, the smells, the feeling of autumn in the air.