corn flakes~

friends, this is the origination of a corn flake.

 



 

i grew up on a farm. we had dairy cows and we grew

corn and beans. my sister and I didn't help in the fields though.

(our grandma kept up plenty busy in the house and garden-

so please don't picture us sitting around twiddling our thumbs).

 

 

my sister and her husband are farmers. right now they are living

and working in the oil fields of north dakota for a couple of years.

last weekend they were back home to harvest their crops.

 

for most of her life, my sister- the farmer's wife had a full time job and

never helped with fieldwork. a year ago she retired and started

 assisting her hard working hubbie. last year she all by herself

hauled 90 loads of corn and beans from the field to the elevator.

all 90 loads. yep, she did.

 

last weekend i drove out west to visit them. (i hadn't

seen my sister for almost half a year- longest time ever)

 i rode with her all day Saturday hauling loads

from the field to the elevator in town.

 

 

director of operations~ my brother in law david

 

my brother in law's boss even drove 10 hours from north Dakota
 to help with the harvest!

he's a great guy- 35 years old, grew up on a farm himself and just

wanted to help out and drive the combine. I rode with him on

one trip around the corn field.  although my sis and i would sit

in our grandpa's big combine when it was safely parked in the

machine shed, i'd never ridden in one while it was in operation.

 

this is a birds eye view from the cab. 

 for all you non farm kids- this is the combine unloading corn into a

gravity box that will be hauled to the elevator.



      "the boss". 
my brother in law got to be his boss though for a

couple days.    :  )

 

 

so, after the guys got trailers loaded my sister would hook up and

drive to town. 17 miles per hour. 8 miles each way- it's a long haul.

all day Saturday when we drove back and forth, we talked and

listened and got caught up on each others life.

i also got a much better understanding of what goes

into the frantic harvesting of farmers fields.

 

they can't harvest too soon, but they are always racing the
clock, trying to time the harvest

between rain and snow, sleet and hail- (ok maybe the

sleet and hail part was a stretch) they work long hours,

into the night to get the work done.

 

 

 

here's what it looks like when you get to the

elevator where the grain is weighed, checked for

 moisture content and unloaded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

you pull up and these nice young men do all the work of

unloading your trailer.

liquid gold.

 

 

 

so they do this over and over and over, till

the wee hours.

 

sunday morning these silly people
decided i should help bring corn to town.
i'm not kidding when i tell you that i quickly ran to the
bathroom and had a small anxiety attack.

there was only time for a small one though, because my
ride was leaving and i didn't even have time to freak out
and say "nooooooo", what are you thinking? me drive
loads of corn to town? i'm a city slicker!"

i took a deep breath and decided if my sister could
do it, i could too and i wanted to help them
if i could.

my part was so minuscule it's hardly worth mentioning, but
this was the view out the truck window as i sat at the
elevator waiting my turn to get on the scale!

yep, i hire out as a trucker now.
i have 3 loads under my belt. pretty proud of myself.
*(don't ask me about the screw up I made that
left me squirming.)
my main concern was that at no time did I want
to have to back up- that was just not happening.


ok. that's almost a wrap, but here's one more picture
I want to show you of the field we were working in.
this old, old grainary sat surrounded by corn,
until after the harvest. now it stands alone in a barren
field.  until next year.

it sure was fun to be a part of a working farm again for a couple days.

the best part by far was sitting at my sister's table, eating the

good food she made us, talking, laughing and knowing that

they have safely completed that huge task for another year.

God is good.

 



 

*****************************

 

a couple more things...there's a whole lot of us breathing a huge

sigh of relief tonight after the safe delivery of our friend's

baby girl today. little Audrey was born 8 weeks early, after her

momma has spent the past 44 days in a hospital bed

many miles from home and her other two little boys.

she weighed in at a gi-whooping 3 lbs. 15 oz. and

all reports are that she's doing fantastic!

 

my niece is expecting her baby boy any day now too-

(sooner rather than later right ash?)

and we are waiting on pins and needles for the

exciting phone call that he is here!

 

can I just say it again?

God is good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

xo, beth