Amber Dietrick – Panhandle Harvesting
Harvest in the Oklahoma Panhandle kicked off right at a week ago. For our crew it started Monday. This year has been weird for me. (And everyone else, I know.) and despite knowing harvest was arriving soon, I was (and still am) super under prepared. But, because life rolls on, so have we! I intended to write this Monday… then Tuesday… then Thursday…and now here we are on Saturday morning over coffee and an egg.
We had a good first day of cutting Monday with no real issues (that I’m aware of.) We had the sweetest little “friend” join us for supper. Landon caught a baby rabbit. (As of last night, bunny was reportedly still alive and thriving and had been named Alligator Junior, in case anyone was wondering, hah!)
Tuesday the wind blew. Not just a little bit. We had just a smidge of rain… really just enough to turn the flying dirt into flying mud for about 15 minutes… which was just enough to shut us down around 2:00 that afternoon. It was probably a good thing that was the case, as the afternoon wore on, the winds were being clocked in the 70 mph range around the area. I lost part of a roof to one of our buildings and I am certain I wasn’t the only one! The static electricity was insane as well. It was definitely the type of day I hadn’t seen in June in my life.
Wednesday was beautiful! We got a good, hard day of cutting in. The boys got to go all afternoon and ride combines with the “big boys” (and grandma Jerretta) they switched and rode a little bit with everyone, from what I hear. That’s the type of days those little guys live for. It certainly makes this mama’s heart happy that my boys love our life as much as we do, and that we have a crew who is willing to feed that passion and spend time with them, as well!
Thursday, I had planned a little something special for Landon, who turned 21 Wednesday (I didn’t realize it was his birthday til I was at the field Wednesday night). But, as luck would have it, we had storms pop up out of nowhere Thursday evening. I don’t think there was a ton of rain to be had, but they certainly did not lack in cloud to ground lightning. There were several fires (I believe I heard the number 8) that evening. Four just right close to our crew. One on a field ½ mile from where we were…and the field we were moving to next. I could see the smoke from my house and knew it had to be close. While feeding livestock before heading out, I heard, “Dang, that one was close!” Then a few minutes later, “We need to get off this field NOW.” I knew my intuition on location was correct at that point. So Reagan, boys and I ended up just unpacking supper and putting it all away for tomorrow.
Friday, we got to have the chocolate whiskey cupcakes and punch we had made for the night before. Supper was probably a bit dry, since it had been stored away and then re-heated, but hey, it worked out for the boys and I well. We worked on part of a new lane between the sheep pens and the pasture (we gave up when I found a rattlesnake where the post drivers are kept and after not being able to find him to kill him, lost my courage to make it all the way to the wall to actually get the drivers) and, in the afternoon, played in the sprinkler and then the Hooker swimming pool for a while before heading to the field. We enjoyed our slow-paced day as we know that soon, those will be few and far between!
Other than hauling supper and taking care of livestock here at home, I’m not sure what the day holds for today. We’re good at flying by the seat of our pants around here. I hope to get some desserts made for meals tomorrow and Monday, while the sheep shearer is out, and maybe go ahead and be hooked to the trailer so I can head down early in the morning.
Hopefully, I will write again next week with the adventures on week two of Panhandle Harvesting LLC’s 2020 wheat harvest!
Have a safe and happy harvest, wherever you may be!
Amber Dietrick, Panhandle Harvesting, LLC
Ask the Lord of the Harvest, therefore, to send workers into his fields. Matthew 9:28
