Harvest: This is the Palouse

Harvest:

Harvest begins for us mid-to-late July and is generally over mid-to-late August. Unless it should happen to rain in August, which is rare. Our main crop is wheat, although we also grow barley and garbanzo beans. Like almost farms in the area, ours is a family-run operation, however we do hire several truck drivers to help during harvest.

For the men, harvest means long hours working in dust and heat, with monotonous, seemingly endless passes over the fields. I generally go into the field once each harvest and ride in my husband's combine for a couple of hours. For me, it's a wonderful break from my 9-5 job in a library. I love the blue sky. The golden fields. The soft thrum of the header as it spins. The whooshing sound of grain as it pours from the header into a waiting truck.

Before going out to the field, I always stop by the local coffee shop first and get 16-oz Peanut Butter Frosts for the crew. Although I put them into a cooler, they're still pretty much melted by the time I drive several miles out of town to the field and then wait by our grain bins for the next truck coming in to unload. Then the truck hauls me even farther out into the fields. Even if the frosty is somewhat melted, the hot, dusty men always enjoy the treat.