york swirls

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Our Family Farm Operation

Do you think we should wash it today? This is after following a tractor and wagons from one farm to the other last night after dark with my flashers going. I lost track, but I think I made the round-trip about 10 times. One mile each way was gravel. The dust was billowing so bad behind the wagons that at times I couldn't see them just 15 feet in front of me.

The girls all played in the back of the van with Kara's new birthday toys until about 10:00. Krissy came & picked them up and put them to bed for me. Autumn doesn't know it, but she was in charge last night while she was upstairs asleep and the girls were all sleeping...but they knew if they needed anything that Autumn was there. When I got home about 1:20 a.m., everyone was sleeping peacefully.
Meagan is unloading the grain cart into the wagons for Nathan & Autumn to take them to the bin and unload them. Autumn & Nathan "pooped out" at 8:00, so Bruce, Heather & I took over. I guess we'll forgive them since it was 9:00 Nathan's time, he had an hour's drive home, and he'd been up since 3:30 a.m. We sure appreciated his and everyone's help last night. Autumn wasn't feeling well and had worked from 7-4. Krissy worked from 7-7 and came home to a cold supper. Then she did the dishes & laundry and put the girls to bed for me while I was driving around in circles in a dust storm. Farm life is a family affair...team work.


The pictures directly above and below are from last Friday when we were cutting beans. (Last night we were picking corn.) The picture above shows how we put the grain in the bins. I've helped with that more this year than I have for a long time. Once we get Grandpa up on that tractor, he usually stays there since he's 81 years old. (Last night, he pooped out at 9 p.m.) Thus they need extra help (me) to swing that hopper around after someone (Meagan) pulls the tractor and wagon(s) up there.

This is what we were doing last night until 1 a.m. Bruce drove the tractor pulling the wagons. Heather rode with him to be "the hooker." She would pull the hitch pin on the empty wagons to drop them in the field for Gary & Meagan to fill. Then she would hold the wagon tongue and put the pin in on the full set of wagons. Then we would drive 2 1/2 miles to the other farm where the bin was. Heather & I would push the hopper under the wagon once Bruce got close enough. Then he would get up on the John Deere tractor you see in the picture and start it & turn on the PTO that runs the auger while Heather & I opened the doors to let the grain flow out of the wagon and into the hopper.



1 comment:

  1. I remember these days oh so well. It took many hands & lots of planning to move between farms & fields. Have a safe & bountiful harvest, Coopers!

    ReplyDelete