Life – Page 8 – NuttyGrass

Harvest Excited, Harvest Tired

I finally sat down and took a deep breath today. We are in the heart of harvest here and there’s a part of me that thrives on all that we accomplish in a day. And there’s a part of me that’s just exhausted and wishes I could sleep for days. I am harvest excited and I am harvest tired.

Catching a quick lunch in the shade of our seed truck.

There’s a part of me that sees harvest as dragging on forever then there’s a part of me that laughs at that part because we aren’t even close to being done. There’s a part of me that gets so excited with good yields and very frustrated with fields that aren’t producing. Because for us, this is it, this is when it all either happens or doesn’t for our whole year.

A very rough, very awful cabbage field….wondering where the crop is? So were we unfortunately.

Harvest has been long, long days, long nights. Days filled with paperwork that still has to get finished, bills that still need to be paid. Logistics of who goes where and what needs to get done, what fields to irrigate, what fields to harvest…a constant triage of priorities. Then evening comes, the boys in tow, and dinners and family time out in the field. Which moves us straight into nights of infant cries, and the many needs of a toddler at 3am. We are smiling, because that crazy spirit in us, that now 4 generations of harvest, heat, dust and dirt…we just can’t shake it.

And the truth is, I already know I’ll be sitting in the same pickup, watching the same beautiful sunset next year, looking forward to the harvest on the horizon. I am continually excited at the potential, and feeling of a years worth of hard work, just hoping it all pays off. This farming thing, it isn’t easy, it’s tough on levels that you put your heart and soul into. It’s something that maybe only a farmer understands and only a farmer would sign up for. It’s our life though, at times it’s beautiful, at times hard…but either way here we go again for another day!

The Views from My Office

I always enjoy when people post photos with the caption, “A view from my office today…” And many times it’s of someone with their feet in the sand, looking out over some beautiful scenery, etc. I got to thinking today how much my office view has changed since I started farming full time 9 years ago.

When I started my view from my “office” was a lot of the back of my dad’s head. I followed him around a lot those first few years. Farming isn’t an easy or quick endeavor, it’s years of experience and knowledge. Experience and knowledge that even while retired, I still hunt him down for often.

Then as he slowly took steps back my office view became a lot more of fields while on a sprayer or fertilizer buggy. And a lot of the real office…because even farmers have to do paperwork!

And as such, life progressed for me personally, adding a husband to the mix, who became a part of the farm a few years after he officially become a part of my forever story.

Then as luck would have it, my little farmers were born. My office view became a lot of days out in the fields with a little man named Hoot.

And about a year and a half later, our farm boy number two showed up. As of late my office view is me, taking care of business, many times (I’ll be honest here) in my pajama like attire, on my cell phone, while at home with my arms full of this sweet new to the world face.

It’s not easy all this “view from my office” changing that has been going on. There are many days when I see Matt drive off in the sprayer or take the fertilizer truck in to get filled that I do miss that time of farming. But some days I’m reminded that I have to cherish the time that I’m in. Because soon, probably before I know it, the view from my office will change again, and maybe I’ll miss those pajama days (just a little!).