View from the Cab: Family farm time

Farmers are lucky to spend time with family while on the job – something that can’t be said about all professions.

Rebecca and the kids rode in the cab with me a few times this fall. Kenadee reached out for the combine steering wheel while Kasen told me I left a strip of soybeans standing in the field. Kasen was my official helper for an afternoon last week (or should I say supervisor) after I picked him up from school. We were able to finish a field and move to another farm while the little guy was there.

After sitting in the quiet cab alone for several hours, it’s always nice to have someone to talk to. This seems to make the time go by a bit faster. The combine and tractor cabs of today are much different from yesterday. We didn’t have an official “buddy seat” in the old days. The kids would just sit in the back if there was a ledge by the rear window to ride on.

Life on the family farm is important to me since it is how I grew up. I learned to work hard and respect the land from my dad and grandpa. Also, Mom taught me to be thankful for what we had. Family members play a critical role in agriculture, whether working on equipment, driving a machine through the field or giving someone a ride to move to the next field.

As I write this, our harvest season is winding down as we are only down to a few fields. Where does the time go? It seems like we just started back in September and here we are approaching the end of October. Aside from a few rain events which impacted the soybean harvest, we really haven’t had any major washouts this fall. Hopefully the nice weather lasts just a little longer so we can get other fieldwork done as well.

The longer range forecast calls for a few more days of mild temperatures before seasonal and cooler weather moves in. Just how cool it will get remains to be seen, but remember it is almost November.