View from the Cab: A special place

Everyone has that nice little place they like to escape to. Maybe it’s a peaceful spot near the lake or a tropical island.

For me, it’s one of our northern farms. This place is always fun to plant and harvest mainly because of the curves and hills. It is also a quiet location with a small stream running through it and a miniature timber which makes you believe you are “a thousand miles from nowhere” as Dwight Yoakum used to sing.

Driving a tractor on a hill in the back corner of the field makes you feel like you are on top of the world as you can see for miles and miles. It’s a place where the sky meets the earth and the sunsets will take your breath away – especially during harvest.

I even enjoy mowing the yard and ditches at this place since it is so relaxing. The gravel roads and scattered nearby residences give this farm a real backroads feel. This is a destination that takes a while to get to, especially in a tractor. Maybe it is such a special place because it is far away and gives us a chance to escape reality every once in a while.

The soil is a bit unique as it seems there is only a one-week window to get the crops in the ground each spring and to take them out in the fall. When it rains, it usually pours at this place and when it dries out, it stays dry. There are areas of the field with good yields and in other spots, not so much.

It takes a while to plant, chisel or combine this 110-acre chunk of land but that’s what makes it unique. What fun would it be to get everything done in only a couple of hours? You must plan on a day or two to get everything done right, otherwise you may leave out a spot in the back corner, along one of the grass waterways or on the side of the terrace.

I enjoy bringing the kids here because it seems like a different world. Kasen and I took the the old two-row planter and open cab tractor to piece in some corn the other day and enjoyed making new memories during this extended 2020 spring planting season. The rest of the family came to pick us up and also enjoyed a quick tractor ride.

This will always be a special farm and I look forward to the next trip up north.