Kylee DeBock – DeBock Harvesting
Well, hello to everyone reading this post! I hope you are enjoying your Memorial Day weekend!
We are in Texas, this year and most every year, spending our “three-day weekend” cutting wheat. We have come to Olney, Texas since our very first year in 2004, at the ripe old age of 21. Gary Glover was our very first farmer and we couldn’t have asked for a better man to help us feel confident in ourselves and the job we were doing. Looking back at pictures of our first year on harvest, I am surprised anyone hired us…we were ALL just babies. But fast forward fifteen years and here we are, in the same town! Running a successful business with our family and we wouldn’t have it any other way!
We arrived here on Friday around 2:00 and we were unloaded and cutting by 4:00! Doesn’t get much better than that. However, we only cut till about 9:30 and here comes the rain! It happens almost every year. Our farmers have received less than an inch of rain in three months. We show up and here comes the rain clouds! I told my farmer the other day I was going to start bringing my combines down here in March and see if we could trick Mother Nature into some nice spring showers. But, luckily, it didn’t rain too much and the boys were back at it by lunchtime on Saturday and cut till after midnight!
Sunday was another nice, hot and “Son” shiny day. The crew headed off to the field and I went to church. I like going to all the different churches along our harvest trail. I always go to the same one in each town and the townspeople always remember the “Harvest family”!
After church, I had some fun on Facebook doing my first LIVE video. Boy, talk about intimidating! I hate talking in front of people. It’s a good thing I didn’t have to take speech in college or I probably wouldn’t have a degree!! But it was fun and I will do it again, soon. I sat in my chair in the camper with nice clothes, hair fixed and make up on talking about our business and a few other things!
Well, right after that, I walk outside only to notice water coming from underneath my camper. So hair goes into a ponytail, work clothes get put on and I crawl under to see what’s going on. Funny how fast a HarvestHER can switch gears! I found some tools and started taking off the “false” floor under the camper to see what’s leaking. Water went everywhere. Luckily, the O ring had just come off the filter! Once that was replaced, my “lake front” property can now dry up!
I can honestly say, in 2004, I felt like I was the only women alive that would put up with this harvest lifestyle. I mean, how much more can I possibly do? I was a wife (mom didn’t come till 2008), cook, maid, parts runner, combine driver, truck driver, grain cart operator, secretary, nurse, farmer liaison, etc! How can I possibly do all this and do any of it well? It took time but I figured it out and I found my place in our business. And I love everything about our harvest life, well MOST everything! (Let’s be honest, there are certain parts we all dislike.) But now, thanks to the HarvestHER website, I have found a great group of ladies that know EXACTLY how I feel. We’ve all been there, done that and we can reach out to one another for advice and comfort whenever we need it! Just reading your stories and seeing how we all go through the same emotions and situations has helped me not feel so alone! Keep the stories coming, ladies! Not only are they entertaining, they are telling the world about the crucial role women play in the agriculture industry.
Happy Memorial Day to everyone! And thank you to the men and women who have served or are serving!
God Bless,
Kylee DeBock
“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
John 15:13 NLT
