an end to #harvest13

It's no secret that my favorite time of year is fall harvest. We work the ground in the spring, plant seed and watch our crops grow and grow all summer long. We pray for rain. But not too much rain. We check and keep tabs on the crops to see what type of weeds, fungus and insects are lurking about. August and September come around and we enjoy watching our crops turn brown knowing that harvest is just around the corner.

Harvest is something every farmer looks forward to. We love to watch to our yields, run the equipment and work sun up to sun down. Meals with the family are enjoyed in the field and we get to work together as a team. Life is a fast-paced, crazy frenzy and the adrenaline rush is like being at a Garth Brooks concert.

There's such a good feeling that rushes over me as I fill my water jug for the day, throw on my favorite boots and tuck a pair of work gloves into my back pocket. I know that as soon as I walk out the door, I'm going to be involved in something special. Something so great and rewarding that I wish everyone could get the chance to experience. There's a sense of accomplishment as you watch the combine make the last swath in a field as it heads over to dump the remaining grain onto the semi for the last load.

I just love it.

However.

All good things must come to an end.

And our beloved #harvest13 ended last week. (I am obsessed with the #harvest13 hashtag on Instagram so in my mind it is no longer harvest but #harvest13. I know, corny.)

And we are just as excited for #harvest13 to end as we are for it to start.

But you ask why we would want something we love so much to end so quickly? 

There's nothing more reassuring than knowing you're going to have all your crops in before the weather turns. Once the wind, snow and ice start beating down, you're losing yield potential. The combine can't pick up corn that's been knocked to the ground and beans can't be harvested when they are cold and wet. The object of harvest is to get everything in as quickly and safely as possible.

It's also really easy to get burnt out. Your body can only take so much and you can only go so long being outside of your normal life and routine. There's always that question of whether everyone is getting enough good sleep or not. We are dealing with heavy machinery and nothing is more important to me than our safety. There's so much more involved than riding around in a big combine and dumping grain into a semi. You're doing this back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth for days. Weeks. Some people even months. You're babysitting the corn dryer for days on end and sometimes you're up all night and doing everything all over again on just two hours of sleep.

Whether your harvest lasts for days, weeks, or months, it's always an amazing feeling to be done.

My husband's Uncle and cousins on his mom's side also farm as well. If they are way behind when we finish we like to go and help them or vice versus. It's such a cool thing, I think. They haven't asked for our help yet but it also hasn't come down to crunch time necessarily. We've been hesitant on putting things away just in case they or someone else might need our help.

My husband and I were chatting the other day and decided it's a lot more fun to help someone else get their crops in than it is your own because you get to go through the motions without the emotions. You don't have to worry about watching your yields and being in a big rush. It's actually relaxing so it's not a burden to help someone out. Well, helping someone should never be a burden, but you know what I mean! You get to sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.

Harvest season doesn't stop the moment the last piece of grain is out of the field, though. There is still grain to dry and haul, equipment to wash and put away and ground work to do if a farm does fall chisel plowing. All that stuff can take place as time allows. There isn't a crop at stake.

There's a lot of stress that goes into farming but most of the stress is caused by conditions that we cannot control as human beings. We can't control the weather, the climate, natural disasters and our health. The one nice thing about winter is we get somewhat a relief from these outside stress factors. Once spring rolls around, though, it's time to start worrying about temperatures and rain fall amounts up until the day we clear our crops out. If you have livestock, this is a whole different story, I understand. You have stress all year round as you are responsible for the welfare of your animals and that doesn't stop at winter time. 

So that is why we are just as excited to celebrate the end of #harvest13 as we were to begin it.

They say, too much of a good thing can turn into a bad thing. That saying definitely rings true in all aspects of life!