Christmas music is on the radio, there’s snow on the ground and it’s probably here to stay. Winter has arrived in Eastern Nebraska.
It’s been two weeks that I made the final lap in the corn field – November 19, to be exact. Seems much longer than that, honestly. Fall harvest felt like it was about a year long. We had so much weather to deal with…just like so many others.
This is the first year I’ve been involved with fall harvest from start to finish. In the past, I’ve been the one to go visit the combine and ride along for an afternoon. There have been times when a driver was needed for one of our older trucks – that was me. As a matter of fact, I was driving Henry the day before Callie was born. She was a week early. The other girls had been a week late. I believe Henry helped shake her in place AND she was born on a rain day. Perfect! A week later, she and I were back in Henry hauling corn and I was worrying about “shaking baby syndrome”.
Oh Henry…I loved that truck! Grandpa purchased it when it was brand, spankin new. It’s now spending the rest of its life in Jordan, Montana. When I have the opportunity to crawl back in the cab of that ‘ole truck, it gives me so many weird feelings. It even smells like it did when I was a young girl.
For me, fall harvest was always more of an event that everyone else was doing. Until this year.
I was hired by friends to run their New Holland combine. I was so excited to be sitting in the cab again but also very, very anxious about never cutting soybeans or picking corn. I didn’t have a clue.
Fall crops are way different animals than what I’m used to dealing with.
Here are a few things I learned:
- You need about four sets of eyes to watch everything that needs to be watched. With wheat, you can push the button for GPS, sit back and relax. Not so with corn and beans – unless its just a sign of my inexperience. There are so many things to watch for. Make sure the snoots on the corn header are where they should be – not too high and not too low.
- Soybeans shouldn’t be cut straight into the row. You can – and probably will – stop the header. Always cut with the row or at an angle.
- It’s best to know and understand how the corn has been planted. I couldn’t get it at first. I didn’t understand why you couldn’t just pull up to rows, engage the corn head and GO! Words not normally used when cutting wheat became a part of my vocabulary. And I’m talking words like “point row and guess row”, not cuss words. (Although, I will admit…a few choice words did escape my lips once in awhile.)
- Counting rows is not as easy as you think. It’s much more difficult than I would have expected to be sitting in the cab, looking directly at the rows of corn and lose count. Now how in the world does that happen? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight…GO! I would get lined up with what I thought was the right row and have to back up and recount. Sometimes it worked best if I could find something different about the row I was looking for. Was the ear of corn pointed in a different direction than the others? Is there a weed identifying the row? What about the way the stalk is leaning? Oh good grief! Nine times out of ten, I COULD NOT hit the row like I should.
- Terraces aren’t supposed to have a row left on them. The farmer is so good at planting his guess row distance, there was no way I could make it easy…ever! Sometimes, a red ribbon tied to the “guess row” worked the best.
- You can’t turn a sharp corner when picking corn – or even a gradual one. If you slow down to a creep and take your time, you can make it happen without pushing over too many stalks.
- It’s much easier to sit in the buddy seat and watch the corn dance in the header than being the one responsible for getting the corn in the header!
- It’s probably a good idea to go another row deeper if you need a “break”. Hard telling just exactly who might show up at the worst time.
- As hard as you try to be careful, accidents do happen. I’m not even sure what I did or how it happened. I messed up the corn head. Not just a snoot that needed to be replaced. I mean really messed it up. I cried for two days. Literally. Thank goodness for the forgiveness of a good employer. I may not be asked to come back next fall but he did let me finish the season. I was pretty hard on myself just because I knew what things cost and what down time meant.
- Dressing in layers works really great! I began the morning with multiple layers of shirts, a stocking hat, mittens and a coat. By the middle of the afternoon, I was down to a t-shirt. And when the day was over, all layers were back in use. I’m a warm-weather person. Give me 100 degrees, shorts and a tank top and I’m extremely happy! This dressing in layers is for the birds.
- Fall harvest includes a chuck wagon. Working for someone else provides way better meals than working for yourself! It didn’t feel right not packing a lunchbox every day. I thoroughly enjoyed the meals being delivered to the field. Thank you to the cook for the best meals ever!
- An eagle really does have keen eye sight. The last field I was in included a bald eagle sitting in a tree overlooking the field. They are a beautiful bird and much larger than what they look like from a distance. This particular fellow was watching for rabbits and spotted one from the treetop. I was nearly a quarter of a mile away from it when the combine scared up a bunny. The eagle saw that and made a beeline for the hopping animal only to be outsmarted by a bunny. At the last minute, the rabbit dodged back in the rows of corn into safety. I didn’t see it in person but I was watching the farmer pointing and flapping his arms like a bird inside the cab of his tractor. Watching that was worth way more fun than he knows!
When it was all said and done, I know I wasn’t the best fall crop combine operator they could have ever had. But I wasn’t the worst, either. So, if they are willing to take a chance on me again, I’ll be more than happy to accept the challenge for fall harvest 2019.
I do know this…I’m a far better wheat cutter and way more tolerant of summer weather. But, I got to spend a few more weeks than usual in the cab of a combine and that’s what I love to do!
