(Photo 97761263 © photoschmidt | Dreamstime.com)
I heard on the news that some parts of the province are starting up with Harvest. It’s an exciting busy time for our farming community. Farming roots run deep in this area and whether you grew up on the farm or not, you’re familiar with sound of combines running into the night, the smell of dust from the fields and that familiar electric energy of just going all out to get it in the bin.
As much as I love it, my closest experiences of harvest were still at an arm’s length…
I used to jump in with my Auntie Madeliene as she loaded up supper in the trunk of the car. Everyone gathering around the hood of the vehicle or sitting on the tailgate of the truck to eat is one thing I’ll never forget.
Uncle Cyril would stop in now and then I would get to hop in the cab of his truck. We’d stop and pick up Curtis and Stefan and then buzz back to the farm to get Auntie Madeliene to got check fields. Uncle Cyril had a phone IN THE TRUCK. It was a treat to hop from quarter to quarter on the back roads, each of us kids taking turns to dial the phone and “Call the Weather”.
Riding in the ‘buddy seat’ of the big 9600 with Michael and Gilles was like riding in a Monster Truck Rocket Ship. All the lights, switches, buttons and what not. Watching the big header gobble up the swaths was mesmerizing and enchanting.
One year when I was still too young to drive, dad took me along as he drove the grain truck. We would sit and wait until the combine would come around again, ready to dump. Being there with my dad, listening to the hum of that big machine in the cab of the truck with the windows down…
I tell you as small and simple as these memories are they will always be a part of what attaches me to this land.
You don’t have to be a farmer to love Harvest.
As things get rolling I want to wish everyone a safe harvest.
-Nic
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