It's Harvest Time!

Fortunately this year Edward and I were able to make it out to the farm during harvest time to help out. This was Edward's very first time out on the farm!! Boy was he in for a surprise. Edward realized that 6am existed EVERYDAY! We were up at the crack of dawn everyday (well after Mom and Dad though). I think Dad likes to get up before the sun rises (; p)! We were lucky to have really good weather for combining and that is just what we did. Curtis had to go back to work the day after we got there so Edward was first up to learn to drive the tractor. Now much to everyones surprise he was a natural at this job. I on the other hand was not so surprised as Edward seems to do well at everything he tries.

After two demonstrations from "the boss" aka Dad he was driving all by himself, loading on the fly and unloading at the grain bag. Jeff drove the combine and Edward drove the grain cart and together they took off a lot of grain.

Everyday from sun up till sun down that combine was moving. Only a few repairs needed to be made which delayed the process by a few hours and gave the combine a break, but all in all breakdowns are a part of harvest I guess. As long as the sun shines and the rain stays away we continue to race against the clock to try and get it all done. Even though it was a lot of hard work and long hours we had a lot of fun! When the sun is gone everything stops, Dad blows out the combine and we return to the house for food, beers and laughs with everyone who helped out and the whole day repeats as soon as the sun rises in the morning.

Edward even got to drive the combine, until it had a breakdown and he felt guilty and decided the tractor was a more suitable place for him. The breakdown had nothing to do with him driving but rather just mechanical. A belt or bearing blew I think, but I'm not sure. It seems it's always a belt or a bearing that goes when a breakdown happens. Enough about breakdowns, we like to pretend they don't exist.

We made a video of Edward's first experience with harvest.