The Last Of The Wheat Harvest

Monday evening I spent some time in the wheat field with Harland as he finished up the last of the harvest. The weather forecast for this week is good, no rain and lower humidity, so he was making good progress and was almost done.

Round and round Harland went on the combine.

After a half hour or so of Harland going in circles, and me running around the field trying to keep up and get pics while wearing the latest in wheat field fashion- a pink tee, green plain skort, and muck boots- I was grateful when he called me on the cell and asked if I wanted to get a pic of him unloading the wheat.  Red faced and panting from the heat, I said YES.  I climbed up onto the grain truck, sat on the top edge, and rested my feet in a mountain of wheat.

It looks really good this year.

Here’s a bird’s eye view of the combine.

And here he comes.

The truck is almost full, just a little bit more can be put in the far end.

When he’s done topping off this truck, he goes over to the grain cart behind the tractor to get rid of the last of his load.

Then Harland comes back,

and asks me if I want a ride. Hmmm….here’s a hard decision.  Ride around in air-conditioned comfort with the hubby, or go back to running around the field in muck boots, which is roughly comparable to running in a giant vat of peanut butter.  Easy decision.

So I rode around for a while, then got back off and took a few last pics of the wheat in the setting sun while Harland finished up for the evening.

After the sun set, Harland pulled over to the grain cart to unload,

and so ended another long day.

The next day, he was back again to finish the harvest, and then he moved on to work on cutting hay for baling.

But that’s a post for tomorrow.

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Suzanne

Cattle, corn, wheat, beans, mud, snow, ice, and drought. Plenty of fresh air and quiet. Our life is sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes joyous, but never boring.

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29 Responses

  1. Sylvie says:

    Harvest time….brings back memories.

  2. Great photos. I love the one at sunset with the golden wheat and the green field in the distance. Such great colors.

  3. Glyndalyn says:

    Thanks for being a wheat farmer! You feed the nation. From Tiny Village, TN.

  4. What a great post! It is so interesting to see how wheat is actually harvested. Something many of us do not think of. I can’t wait to show my kids this post!

  5. Glenda says:

    Great pictures!!! You’ve done it again! Hope you enjoyed your workout. We have enjoyed the results.

    • Suzanne says:

      Hi Glenda,
      I can’t say I enjoyed my workout. I was wondering what it would look like on my tombstone if it said I dropped down dead of a heart attack in a wheat field. And the outfit I was wearing. Who would be caught dead in that?
      Suzanne

  6. Linda says:

    It looks like a piece of heaven! Heaven is hard work, isn’t it? 😉

    • Suzanne says:

      Hi Linda,
      It is hard work. There’s also the worry of a hard rain or wind or hail that would destroy the wheat, but luckily that didn’t happen this year and it went off without a hitch.
      Thank you for your visit,
      Suzanne

  7. Teresa says:

    I absolutely love the sunset pictures. We’re busy making hay here too.

    • Suzanne says:

      Hi Teresa,
      Glad you liked the sunsets. It was a beautiful evening, and we’ve been getting lovely weather here lately. Harland has been hard at it making hay.
      Suzanne

  8. Vivian says:

    I’ll never look at a loaf of bread in the same way. Thanks for the wonderful pictures. I guess farming has come a long way when you can harvest from the comfort of air conditioning. I agree with azplantlady – it would be a great lesson for kids (and for a lot of the rest of us).

    • Suzanne says:

      Hi Vivian,
      You’re welcome! Farming has come a long way even in our lifetime. I remember as a kid that a lot of farmers were still working on tractors without cabs, and breathing in all kinds of dirt and dust. They would sometimes get sick. It’s a healthier profession in that regard these days.
      Take care, and thanks for your visit,
      Suzanne

  9. Melanie says:

    There isn’t a thing better than a Kansas sunset!!! Great pictures!! Glad harvest is over too, that is always a relief!

    • Suzanne says:

      Hello Melanie,
      We are very glad harvest is over. One less thing to worry about.
      Thank you for stopping,
      Suzanne

  10. Jen says:

    Beautiful photos! Your blog makes me nostalgic for home and the prairieland I grew up on. I miss it every day.

  11. Jen says:

    I grew up in eastern South Dakota, on the prairie and hills that run along the Sioux River. When we moved there in the early 80’s (the land has been in our family since the early 1870s), one of the first things my father did was to begin restoring the overgrazed hills back to native prairie. Today, the land is breathtakingly beautiful. If you look on my blog in the posts from early May, you can see some pics that I took from the annual prairie burns; it gives you a sense of the land, anyway.

    Love your blog and will be stopping by often.

    • Suzanne says:

      Jen,
      The Dakotas is one part of the country that we’ve not been, and would like to someday. It looks just breathtaking there in pics. I just visited your blog and saw the prairie fire post. Amazing pics.
      Thanks for stopping by,
      Suzanne

  12. Jen says:

    Let me know if you’re ever in the area. I’d love to give you a tour!
    Jen

  13. Benjamin says:

    Really enjoyign your blog this evening. This post reminds me so much of growing up in Oklahoma (for 9 years anyway). Lunchtime all the womenfolk brought lunch and iced tea, fed the menfolk from liftgates and trunks. I can still taste the sweet tea, the chaff in my teeth, and I remember my dad letting me sit on his lap in the combine, usualy just to go back and get the corners of the field from when he made short turns.

  14. Ashley says:

    I found your blog from PW! I am from Kansas as well and am loving your pictures! Have you ever entered any of these photos in the Kansas State Fair wheat contest? I’m entering some pictures for the first time this year!

    Great blog, I’m bookmarking this one!

    Ashley

    • Suzanne says:

      Hi Ashley,
      I’ve considered entering in the wheat contest but never have. I did enter in the Kansas State fair last year though.
      Thank you!

  1. July 7, 2010

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    […] a combine cuts the wheat stalk and separates the wheat kernels, or threshes, from the stalk. (Click here to see how wheat is harvested today) But years ago, wheat was cut by hand, and then threshed with a […]

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