Amanda Buus Thomsen – BT Harvesting
Every year as we prepare for the upcoming harvest season, we always face challenges and deal with uncertainties.
How good will the wheat be down south?
How many crew members should we start with?
Will the crop be early?
Will there even be a crop?
Will it be grazed off?
Will it warm up up north in time for ‘normal’ planting?
Will it dry up up north for farmers to get in the field?
Most of the time our nemesis is the weather. Crops lost to too much rain, too little rain, frost/freeze, hail or low market prices. But this year…this year is different.
Both in good ways and in bad.
We have new challenges that we’ve never faced before. Finding crew members has been a struggle to say the very least. With the travel ban and the lockdown, getting employees here has been a nightmare. We’re fortunate that we’ve gotten 4 employees here, and are waiting on 3 more. How will we make this work? I’m not sure. But we will. Somehow, it’ll work out.
But we can’t complain. We are pretty lucky.
Some crews weren’t able to get any of their crew members in, leaving them in an unprecedented bind. And to make matters worse, we have no idea when the travel ban will be lifted or if it will be lifted by the end of the harvest season.
Our days have been filled with the normal activities this time of year brings – setting up equipment, servicing trailers, servicing trucks, painting, polishing, organizing and cleaning. The crew we do have have been absolute rockstars, working hard to get all the servicing and prep work done before we roll out in a week or so.
My days have been a little different too. Instead of stocking the shelves of the camper, organizing recipes and maintaining my mountains of paperwork, I’m taking care of the newest addition to our family. Axel Joseph arrived at the end of February and has kept us on our toes and completely sleep deprived since. My new boss is pretty demanding and all consuming, but his cute little face and sweet smiles more than make up for it. And the baby snuggles are pretty amazing as well. All of my ‘normal’ jobs are now done late at night, early in the morning or during those oh-so coveted nap times.
What we do know for certain is that life this year will be different. But we’ll make the best of it…sleep or no sleep!
The life as a HarvestHER is never boring!
