Big Beaver: Harvest Time

  • Big Beaver, Saskatchewan, Canada
    1973 Chevy 5 ton truck.
  • Big Beaver, Saskatchewan, Canada
    Case IH 1680 harvester.
  • Big Beaver, Saskatchewan, Canada
    Auger for moving the harvested crop.
  • Big Beaver, Saskatchewan, Canada
    Graineries.
  • Big Beaver, Saskatchewan, Canada
    Farmer rigged ladder.
  • Big Beaver, Saskatchewan, Canada
    Combine Harvester.
  • Bengough, Saskatchewan, Canada
    That is just peculiar and on the side of the road by Bengough.

Big Beaver: Harvest Time.
August 28.  

It is harvest time and I am a farmer again.  Not a great one, but a farmer once again…for a couple of days.

Chad made breakfast this morning and I headed back to the farm for harvest time in Big Beaver.  The main combine broke down last night but my very handy brother had everything fixed today and we finally got out into the field by 4pm.  We are combining peas.  Dad is running a combine, Matt is running a combine, and I am hauling the crop in.  This is what it looks like…

 

1973 Chevy 5 ton truck.

1973 Chevy 5 ton truck.

I drove this truck around the farm today for harvest time. We are cutting peas for animal feed on the farm right now. Not feed for our animals. We will sell it. This is my mean farm machine right now that I drive from the field to one of our farm houses where the grain is stored.
I have been driving this truck on the farm, hauling crops with it since I was about 13. This truck has been on the farm as far back as my memory goes. I was talking to my brother today. He says this truck has been on the farm as long as his memory goes. He turned 50 this year.

 

Case IH 1680 harvester.

Case IH 1680 harvester.

My brother and my father run these machines. You can see the combine unloading crop into one of the trucks.
I used to get to run one of these machines at harvest time, but I have been gone for so many years that they probably do not trust me enough! So I am the trucker. That is usually what the young guy does.

 

 

 

 

Auger for moving the harvested crop.

Auger for moving the harvested crop.

This red truck is the other truck I drive. We have two big trucks. One stays in the field and my brother and father dump crop into it while I am driving the other to the farm and unload it. When I get back to the field, the other truck is full.
I dump the grain into this huge yellow machine called an auger that acts as an elevator and hauls the grain into huge storage bins that we have called graineries.

 

 

 

Graineries.

Graineries.

And this is the other end of the yellow machine. This is where the crops go. That is my 77 year old father crawling around on the top of the graineries. He is 77 and climbing on things like a 30 year old during harvest time, and any time for that matter. You can see how high he is by the length of his body in proportion to the size of the building.

 

 

 

 

Farmer rigging.

Farmer rigging.

Today I had to get into the bucket of this tractor. My dad wired a ladder to the bucket. Once the tractor was in this position, I had to climb the ladder to the top of this grain bin to open the lid on top so that we could put the augered grain into it. It was uncomfortable to climb this ladder, but I have done things like this on the farm my whole life. Dad asked me with a smirk if I thought it was safe.  I replied with a smirk that I was sure it was perfectly safe.  As I was climbing the ladder dad asked, “Do you want me to climb up there?” I said, “Na, you are 77. If it fall, I probably bounce better than you.”

 

So that was my day on the Harris farm today for harvest time. It has been 9 years since I helped with harvest. We just got going today. Rain has been holding up the show.  If it does not rain, we probably have all of our crops in within two weeks.  I will head west soon but I wish I could hang around for a couple of weeks.  Harvest is always one of the best times of the year on the farm.  There is something really special about working together with family to help take in the farm produce together.  It is nice to be home.

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