Harvest Started

We started harvest on Wednesday!  Moved over to the Walters field Tuesday afternoon and cut a little swath to make sure the combines worked then hit the ball on Wednesday and today.  The yields are good, the crew is good, the weather is good.....all is good!

 I am 55 years old and I can safely say, that I remember at least 50 first days of harvest.  It's just as exciting at 55 as it was when I was 5!  There's just something about that first day....the sound of the machines, the smell of the cut straw and chaff, the crunch of the thrashed grain when you chew it to see if it will be dry enough to keep harvesting, the dust and the dirt.....just everything about the day is wonderfully satisfying.  It is after all, the culmination of two years of work.

Here are a few images of the first day of our 2016 wheat harvest.

Moving down the road to the Walter's field.

This is Reynald's machine.  New to us this year, is a second combine, which will be featured in later posts.

There's a combine in there somewhere!

It was a pretty day, with the clouds, a blue sky, amber waves of grain and a big green combine!

This is our support staff.  On the far left is the tonner, then the fire truck, Raymond the fuel truck and Gigi, the gas Gator, towing the air compressor.  Everyone is put to use every day, EXCEPT the fire truck!  We hope that never gets used!!

Reynald in the combine, about to unload in to the grain cart with Alicia driving the tractor.

Alicia filling my truck, Starbucks, with grain.

The end of the auger swivels forward and back, with a  hydraulic cylinder, so that she can get the front and back of the truck full.  This isn't as easy as she makes it look!

Sometimes you have to wait for a train when you are either coming or going to the grain storage elevator.  

Thunder storms predicted for tomorrow.  We're keeping our fingers crossed that they don't materialzize.  Rain and thunder and lightening would not be appreciated at this point in time.