Wheat harvest is behind us, well, for most of us. Barley is long gone, but now the busiest of all seasons begin: Sugarbeets. Officially beginning on October 1, pre-harvest has begun, and the roads are buzzing with sugarbeet trucks. Throw in soybeans, and it looks like an L.A. freeway out there. Only our traffic jams are heavy trucks, and during sugarbeets, it runs 24 hours a day.
This is the worst time of the year. During my first pregnancy, 15 years ago (sigh), I had night sickness, not morning sickness. Add to the mix beet trucks that I could hear coming from miles away, and my sleepness nights were miserable. It was one of my first years of sugarbeet harvest, and I still remember the name of the farmer who my husband said "He doesn't have time to fix his truck, it's beet harvest." I had no sympathy from my husband, and no peace and quiet until harvest was over.
I can laugh about it now, but sometimes harvest just sucks the life out of everyone involved. It may be cold, muddy, exhausting, not to mention the inevitable break downs or missing truck drivers. I still giggle hearing about the truck driver who got tasered (not mine), or the one who wrote from prison that he would be unable to return for harvest. The Jensen Farm has the legend of Grandpa Alfred, who managed to convince the sheriff not to take the truck driver on the arrest warrant because we were almost done harvesting. Just a few more hours is all we needed, and the sheriff agreed. Everyone wants to get the beets harvested, and fast! I bought a sugarbeet knife on ebay, and Grandma Lorna was not impressed. It may be an antique to us, but she remembers too well bending over, hooking the sugarbeets, and slicing the tops, all by hand! I think it's roughing it when the autosteer goes out on the rotobeeter.
This is the worst time of the year. During my first pregnancy, 15 years ago (sigh), I had night sickness, not morning sickness. Add to the mix beet trucks that I could hear coming from miles away, and my sleepness nights were miserable. It was one of my first years of sugarbeet harvest, and I still remember the name of the farmer who my husband said "He doesn't have time to fix his truck, it's beet harvest." I had no sympathy from my husband, and no peace and quiet until harvest was over.
I can laugh about it now, but sometimes harvest just sucks the life out of everyone involved. It may be cold, muddy, exhausting, not to mention the inevitable break downs or missing truck drivers. I still giggle hearing about the truck driver who got tasered (not mine), or the one who wrote from prison that he would be unable to return for harvest. The Jensen Farm has the legend of Grandpa Alfred, who managed to convince the sheriff not to take the truck driver on the arrest warrant because we were almost done harvesting. Just a few more hours is all we needed, and the sheriff agreed. Everyone wants to get the beets harvested, and fast! I bought a sugarbeet knife on ebay, and Grandma Lorna was not impressed. It may be an antique to us, but she remembers too well bending over, hooking the sugarbeets, and slicing the tops, all by hand! I think it's roughing it when the autosteer goes out on the rotobeeter.
So happy harvesting. Here's a nice muddy picture from 2012, the year we harvested up until Thanksgiving and battled snow and mud the entire time. We also ended up leaving sugarbeets in the field, something that still makes me a little sick to my stomach. Send us prayers for dry weather, not too cold, not too hot, and most importantly, a safe harvest.
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