H54F - Harvest 2012 Style

It's Friday, so why not celebrate?

I am linking up with Lauren @ From My Grey Desk for this week's H54F, but I decided to add a little twist and celebrate all the little things that I am learning to appreciate as a new farm wife.

Numero Uno? Mark Purfeerst. (and every other farmer!)

This farming job is hard work and he is such a trooper, even though I am pretty sure he is completely, and overwhelmingly, exhausted.

Let me paint the picture. This week we are setting up a cow to flush (so we can collect embryos from her), so even though he may not roll in to bed until 2 in the morning after trucking grain all night, he still is up and out the door by 6:00 (in the morning, mind you) so he can make it back to the farm to give shots (just shots of hormones to convince her body to cycle -- pretty much like how it works in humans). After shots and feeding, he drives back to our house, showers, gets ready for work where he puts in 8 hours, runs home, changes clothes and heads back out to the farm.

And his schedule has been dauntingly similar for the last four weeks. But I couldn't be more impressed with how he is handling it. Now, I won't hold back the reality. Has he been a little crabby every once & awhile? Yes. Have I been a occasionally annoyed (even though I am trying desperately not to be. Cut me slack please, I am still learning.) that I have been momentarily put in charge of every single chore in our life like bills, laundry, groceries, food, cleaning, ect.? Yes. Do I miss having someone at home with me to go check on random noises and fix the light bulb that has been out in our garage for two weeks (I can't reach it!). Yes. 

{isn't he cute? BTW, don't mind his ugly shirt. It goes with his ugly hat & ugly pants.}

Nonetheless, all those things are to be expected and little things when we look at the big picture. The important thing is that we have 3,000+ acres of crop to get out and they need every able helping hand to do it. So Mark is doing whatever he can. Plus, a small percentage of that crop is ours and it's so exciting to see our year of planning and work pay off. 

I am proud of him. And, I can't forget to mention Jim, Jimmy, Ramone, Rosie and the rest of the guys at the farm and the thousands of other men & women out there doing the same thing. It takes long hours, but it's a rewarding job in the end.

Number Two | Going off the above, I am doubly thankful that harvest is almost over.

It's typically unheard of that we would have all the crop out of the field by the end of October, let alone October 10th, but rumor at the elevator is that we might be done as early as the middle of next week. 2012 has been such a crazy year.

{A load from from this week. Each semi holds 900-1000 bu.}

Now, by no means is the work over when the last kernel of corn is put in the bin. There is still grain to haul, fields to be dug and plenty of bookwork catch up on. However, we will be back to "normal" hours, where six hours of sleep and supper at the dinner table are possible.

Three? Huband/Wife Time.

Last Saturday, I got really lucky. I won free Twins tickets AND we weren't super busy at the farm, so my husband got to come with me. It was so fun to just hang out and enjoy one of the last beautiful fall days. Plus, we thought Mark would have to head back to the farm after the game, but they shut down early, so we got the rest of the night to just enjoy. We stopped at a pumpkin patch and picked out two BIG, beautiful pumpkins (plus a few white ones for inside decor), enjoyed a treat at the new frozen yogurt shop in town and then plopped our butts on the couch and relaxed. It was heavenly.

4. A New Barn Coat (I need to add a little fashion in here!)

Yesterday, Mother Nature decided to let loose the chilly weather. 80 and sunny on Wednesday -- cloudy, windy and 40 on Thursday. It was enough to make any girl crabby, but I like to make the best out of all situations and decided it was the PERFECT time to pull out my new cute barn coat.

Let me preface this by saying, I know barn coats don't normally get to be NEW or CUTE. But, I scored this one at Gap last year for $6.97 (and that was before my super crazy discount) for this sole purpose. Just because you're doing cattle chores, doesn't mean you can't be cute. And at less 10 bucks, who cares if it gets dirty?!

{Looking back, I should have bought 3 of them. Definitely. Maybe even 4?}

 A little fake fur helps class up any night at the barn, don't you agree?

#5 -- Lots of Learning
I've said it before and I will say it again. I am not an expert at farming. Give me cows and I could go on forever, but corn & soybeans? I am a little lost.

However, after a bit of a rude harvest awakening, I love every nugget of information that I am learning. 

By the way, I know what you are thinking. Rude awakening? You have been with Mark for 8 years. And you are right. But two of those years I was in high school, five of them I was gone in Fargo, and last year I was freaking out about a wedding. I was more concerned about invitations and flowers than if Mark was gone at the farm. I didn't quite know everything that went into it.

Back to the point, it's been great to actually understand what's going on and feel like I can help. I have been learning how to run the scale, what moisture we need to be at, why you can't harvest soybeans when it gets too cold, how the books work, what a bill of lading is, my husbands signal for when to stop the truck when loading roundbales, where certain corn gets delivered, how basis/puts/ect. work and so on. Next year, mark my words, I am even learning how to run the digger! :)

Am I an expert? No. Do I know more than I did four weeks ago. 1,000 times more. And that is a good feeling.

And because this is getting to be an extremely long H54F, I am ending it at that. :)

Have a great weekend, friends! And if you are in the same shoes as me, I would love to hear from you! What are you thankful for this week?

XoXo,