Corn Harvest from the Jump Seat

 

Randy feels good about our decision to retire from active farming in August 2022. But there are times when he misses it, and he gets a little "itchy" - and that itch doesn't have a thing to do with the ever-present harvest dust. Harvest was always Randy's favorite time of the year. Well ... Until he had a breakdown. Or the combine got stuck. Or the employee didn't show up.

So maybe experiencing harvest in the combine's "buddy seat" is OK after all. Let's hope the combine operator was just as happy to have a rider as Randy always was when a kid, grandkid or curious guest showed up. 

 

He was able to ride for a little while as a custom harvester was cutting one of our corn fields. (The ride and the photos were taken September 27.)

 

Our corn averaged 80 bushels per acre. Todd and Tye Miller, who farm our ground, had some fields that had higher yields at other locations. However, Randy says it was a nice surprise after the field blew so badly after planting this spring because of drought and strong windstorms. 

 

The custom harvester - Frederick Harvesting out of Alden - was trying out an experimental combine, so Randy enjoyed looking at all the bells, whistles and cameras in the combine cab during his excursion. 

Tye and Todd still have some our milo to harvest this fall. We'll see if more combine rides are in Randy's future.