The One Where I Drive a Combine

lessons from an unexpected teacher and the end of harvest || August newsletter

Aug 30, 2023

A couple of weeks ago, Rich texted and asked me if I could drive a combine for an afternoon. I texted him back and said, “Maybe.” This response was two-fold. Maybe I’m not busy, and also, maybe I remember how to drive a combine. I couldn’t remember the last time I ran a combine. Was it last summer or two summers ago?

For most of harvest, my main role is cooking dinner every evening for our crew. But usually, I get called in once or twice toward the end of harvest to run a combine.1 While harvest is a big part of our farming/ranching operation, at some point, other parts of the farm/ranch must go on, too: ranch work with the cattle, baling straw, etc.

On this day, Rich was short-handed and needed another combine driver so that he could drive a semi. I packed a few snacks and headed to the field with Nora. Rhett and Allie were already there, where they spent most of harvest.

When I got to the field, I made my way toward one of the combines. One of our employees parked his combine to switch me so he could drive one of the semis loaded with grain. Rhett jumped out of his dad’s combine and walked toward me. Then, Rich took off in his combine. I assumed Rich would give me a refresher course in running a combine, but he was gone.

Rhett, Nora, and I climbed the ladder into the cab, and Rhett started pushing buttons, telling me what he was doing along the way. My heart raced as I hit the throttle, moving the 60,000-pound piece of machinery down the field.

Slowly, some of it came back to me. Watch my speed2, engage auto-steer, pay attention to my header, and then the part I was most anxious about—unloading the wheat “on the go” into the grain cart.

Rhett sat beside me, his hair wild and uncut from a summer in the field, giving me gentle cues and reminders, talking about the crop and the combine. At one point, I asked him about a particular button, and he said, “Just don’t worry about that one, Mom.” And I didn’t.

He turns nine next week and just started third grade. The boy who made me a mom taught me to drive a combine. So often, he and I clash, but at that moment, I let him teach me. I asked him questions and watched his eyes light up when he answered.

Just when I got the hang of it, he left me to run his dad’s combine.3 For a second, I wanted to ask him to stay; I wasn’t sure I was ready to be on my own. But with pride, I watched Rich leave the field in a semi loaded with grain while my oldest child drove a combine in front of me.

During one pass in the field, I looked over at Rhett, his head barely above the steering wheel, and I waved. Wasn’t it just last year that I brought him to his first harvest in a baby carrier, not even one year old? And now here he was, running a combine on his own.4

Some days, it’s easy as a mom to assume I know everything and am the one teaching and shaping my kids.

But I think the best days are when it goes both ways.

Three-year-olds are not the best companions in a confined space for several hours. We did not bring enough snacks.

Farm Happenings

And with that, we have another harvest in the books! This summer marked my 11th year of harvest, not counting the summer we were engaged and I wasn’t living on the farm. From start to finish, harvest took a little over a month, with a few days off sprinkled in.

We were grateful for no major issues—other than the normal mechanical problems that pop up during harvest. We didn’t have any field or equipment fires or injuries. These are all things I pray about and are real concerns for farmers during harvest.

My father-in-law baled some of the straw in the harvested fields during harvest. He made almost 1,700 bales that will be used this winter during calving. The crew is still working to haul and stack the bales from the fields to the ranch yard. They’re almost finished hauling hay from earlier this summer, and we’ve started hauling some grain from the bins to the elevators.

Last week, the grain cleaner came out and did just what it sounds like—he cleaned the grain! We sell most of the grain we harvest but keep some to plant again. He cleaned winter wheat that we cut this summer so that it could be seeded this fall. We’ll also buy more seeds to plant as well.

Rich and the guys’ soil sampled most of the fields to prepare for seeding the winter wheat next month. The bags of soil were sent off to a lab to be analyzed, and the results tell us what nutrients are needed and how much to apply. This way, we can farm to keep the soil healthy and to grow the best crops possible.

Now, we’re hoping and praying for rain to give the soil much-needed moisture before planting.

Up next: seeding winter wheat.

Farm kids playing in the semi-trailer loaded with wheat.

Lately, I’m . . .

Reading: Comfort Me With Apples by

Ruth Reichl

. I stumbled on Reichl’s work a few years ago with her memoir Save Me the Plums. Since then, I’ve worked my way through all of her books. Save Me the Plums is still my favorite, but this one is my next favorite. She shares a much more intimate look into her early career and marriages in this book.

I also read Tom Lake by Ann Patchett and need to talk to someone about it. The writing was beautiful, and for the most part, I loved the story. But, several aspects of the storyline bothered me, and it affected how I felt about the book by the end.

Watching: the fourth and final season of Jack Ryan! Like the nice wife I am, I waited to start the new season until Rich was home in the evenings so we could watch it together.5 We still have one episode left, but we’ve been enjoying it, and I’ll be sad when it’s over. (Although I think my stomach will be glad for a break from all the action, suspense, and violence.)

Wearing: this cozy and soft hoodie in a fun fall-ish color!

Cooking: sheet pan nachos! These are super easy, and everyone in my family eats it! I’ll be honest: I don’t follow a recipe (which is really unlike me and makes me a little anxious), but I linked one similar to how I make them! Since we always have ground beef, that’s normally what I use. I’ve also used leftover pulled pork, but I want to try grilled chicken in the future.

Baking: zucchini chocolate chip bread with zucchini from my MIL’s garden.

Writing: once again, not much. I took the whole summer off of IG, thinking it might allow me more writing time. I hope to start some new routines and rhythms with quiet time in the mornings now that school has started.6

Singing: this song by Harry Styles.

Listening: to a five-part podcast narrative series, “The Retrievals.” I went into this series not knowing anything about it, and my jaw dropped when I realized what was happening. All I will say is it’s about women seeking fertility treatment through IVF at Yale.

Sharing: my latest Rural Woman interview, where we discussed mental health, particularly in agriculture. I’m also revealing my shiny new website! I’ve disliked my website for a long time—but it felt overwhelming to design it myself, and I questioned whether I was enough of a “real” writer to justify paying someone to design it for me. But I finally got over that and hired

Lara d'Entremont

, and she was so great and easy to work with! I highly recommend her if you’re looking to redesign/start a new website!

Buying: this laptop backpack for an upcoming trip! I’ve been eyeing this one for a while after being influenced by

Sarah Powers

from The Mom Hour, but I didn’t need a new one. Then, last week, the zipper on my laptop backpack broke—so I ordered this one! I think it will be perfect to take my books, notebooks, and laptop through the airport and for the weekend!

Planting Season

Discussion about this post