Randi Beckley – Beckley Harvesting
This has been a strange year for us. Our Texas stop got cancelled due to drought, and our Oklahoma stop was delayed due to excessive rain and storms. Finally, at the end of May, we’ve arrived in Leedey, Oklahoma to begin our harvesting journey for 2017.
I won’t deny, it was nice having so much extra time to work on our house and complete our new basement, and it was nice to spend extra time with our families. But the harvest bug seems to creep into our blood, it seems, and we were all itching to head south by the time our farmer gave us the go-ahead.
The kids were extremely anxious to move into the trailer house! They packed all their favorite toys and books, stuffed animals, blankets, and coloring supplies, and then marked off the days on the calendar until our final moving day arrived. By the time we finally moved, their calendar had six or seven different “mooving day!” squares crossed out and rewritten. I don’t think they believed us when we told them that we were officially leaving on the 24th, until we locked the house and finally drove off with the fuel trailer tugging behind our pickup.
This is one of the first years I’ve had to tow something behind me on moving day, but thankfully it went smoothly, even when driving through Dodge City. I hate driving through Dodge City. Then again, is there anyone who enjoys driving through Dodge City? I don’t think so.
Anyways, the kids and I made it to our trailer house, and all is well. We had a couple of days before we have to go out to the fields, so we’ve been relaxing and enjoying being together as a family, and being away from the shop. We took the kids fishing for the first time and they all caught at least one fish! Michael’s fish was only about 4 inches long, but that didn’t damper his enthusiasm. We also took the kids to the city to do some grocery shopping and, of course, we had to stop for ice cream along the way. This evening, we had a cookout and campfire with all the hired men, with plenty of s’mores to go around.
We’ve certainly enjoyed these past few days of being together and relaxing before harvest officially begins, but it’s time to get to work. Tomorrow, Jake will take the crew out to Sentinel, Oklahoma to test a few fields, and I will begin cooking and delivering suppers to those fields. It’s time to begin a new year of harvesting, to make some new memories, to meet some new farmers, and (hopefully) make some more money.
As each year passes with alarming rapidity, I find myself more and more grateful to be able to take my whole family on harvest and be together. Our lifestyle may be different from most, and our house may be smaller than most, but we are together all year-long, and we are happy.
1. Be ready to go at the drop of a hat...sometimes without a lunchbox.
2. Has removed the word impossible from her vocabulary!
3. Can hold a baby, take care of a toddler and drive a tractor or combine all at the same time.
4. Must be able to cook for a crew - large or small.
5. Must be able to read minds.
6. Must be able to banter with a parts man until he realizes you DO know what you're talking about.
7. Must be the entertainment director for those rainy days.
8. Be a wife, mom, friend, helper, cook, problem solver, taxi driver or extra crew hand at all times.
9. Can handle the call that makes you react, "You need what? When?" Dropping everything you're doing to make it happen.
10. At the end of the day say, "I really do love this life".