Many times Hoot comes along on farming projects. We had him out in the field with us yesterday to mark out some new field boundaries. He was very helpful as you can imagine.
Hoot didn’t complain a bit though. He’s a great outdoor kid and can you blame him? I mean who needs a sand box when you can play in a 50 acre dirt box?! 
Farm life is so good!
Farming is a way of life. For many of us during certain times of the year that means everything revolves around the life of farming. Everything from where you will be eating dinner, field or table, to what you can wear today, boots or flip flops. It’s a seven day a week, 24 hour a day job that never quits. Until you decide you’ve had enough and you just need a break. Last week I told Matt it was time to get off the farm for a few hours and have an adventure, so we packed up the car and headed for the Pacific Ocean for the afternoon.
It was great to getaway, to relax and just hang out. Meanwhile you never really can getaway so the whole time driving there and back, while Hoot napped in the back, we talked about planting schedules, field rotations and plans for the coming year and our crops. But at least we weren’t physically at the farm, we were covered in sand and happy as clams! 
Then come the next day it was back to work. We are irrigating our youngest orchard of hazelnuts right now with their last set of water before they start to get ready for winter dormancy. Ground is being worked to get ready for planting. Soil tests are taken this time of year to make sure that our soil is happy and healthy moving into the next growing season. Cleaning up equipment from seed harvest, getting equipment ready for hazelnut harvest & planting. There is never a dull moment, but it was sure nice to getaway from it all (sort of) for a day.
Harvest is a crazy time of year for farmers. We work all year to grow a crop that is healthy and happy, and we have a very short window to get all that crop off of the fields. Which means long hours, everyday of the week, no matter what. So I got to thinking today, how if you were to walk into our house, how you would know it was harvest time. So here are the top 10 ways you will know it’s harvest at our house…
1. You will notice the frozen lasagnas are slowly disappearing out of our freezer, by slowly I mean, we eat a lot of frozen meals during harvest. It’s fast and easy, and can be thrown in the oven while you run out to check on harvesters or catch up on e-mails or calls.
2. You may see seeds on the ground in our laundry room. During harvest I can always tell what crop we are combining by examining the lint trap. Clover seed, grass seed, cabbage seed, are all on the ground in front of our dryer currently.
3. You will not find socks. I don’t know where socks go during harvest, but they completely disappear. You will however find socks on the list of things to buy on Amazon, lots of socks!
4. You will see laundry everywhere, sock-less laundry, but laundry just the same. My best advice for finding jeans or another specific item during the midst of harvest laundry. First, check the folded clothes basket. Second, check the unfolded clothes basket. Third, check the dryer. And lastly if you still haven’t had any luck, grab your jeans from yesterday, they are going to be just as dirty in the first hour anyway.
5. You will not hear intelligent conversation. Unless it has to deal with yields, moisture levels, planting plans, and field rotations. It’s all we have room for in our tired brains.
6. Don’t be shocked to see us leave at all times of the night and early morning. Like I said we work all hours, all days…did I mention we are tired?
7. You will see farmers tans. It’s not just a saying, these white legs and tan arms of mine resemble a ying yang symbol most of summer.
8. You will see Hoot napping in our pick-up while we move combines down the road. Yes, if we can, we synchronize nap times with long road moves from field to field.
9. You will see Hoot with us a lot. He’s been quite the trooper, combine riding, checking fields, starting irrigation, this farm boy has had no lack of field time!
10. Mostly though I hope you will see a hard working family. A family that everyday works together to make it through, tired, haggard, and impatient at times…but together.
The crazy part is that after all is said and done this year, the weather will cool down and leaves will start to turn, we will look back and contemplate all the decisions made for the year, and I know without a doubt we will look forward to harvest next year. It will hit the very next spring, forgetting the messy house and laundry, frozen meals and exhaustion and get excited for that time of the year when when all your hard work and hopefully mother nature have worked together well enough to get a good crop out of the soil. Because, in the end, this is the life we love, this is the life we have chosen and that’s farming.
NuttyGrass 