Harvest Memories Old and New

Each year around this time I fondly look back on the memories of growing up surrounded by corn fields and harvest. Last year I wrote this entry about what it was like as a child. Yesterday, I had a chance to relive old memories and create new ones. It was perfect, a moment I will treasure forever. Everything was just as I remembered it with the exception of some new technolgy and additions that made the ride more comfortable....and harder to turn on the windshield wipers when my dad wasn't looking. Since last year I wrote about the experience, here are some pictures to mark our 2006 harvest...




The corn is definitely dry and ready to be picked.




Uncle Ron driving the combine (this is what picks the corn and takes it off the cob.)




All the husks, cobs, and stalks get shot out of the back of the combine...you don't want to stand behind it, trust me.


My dad is pulling up with the grain cart so Uncle Ron can unload the combine while simultaneously picking more corn.


Tranferring the corn from the combine to grain cart.




Dad and me in the tractor.


Grain transfer seen in the massive side mirrors.


Once the grain cart is full, we took it to the "pit" next to the bins and dumped the corn in there to begin the drying process.


Corn flowing into the pit.


When the pit is full at the moment or they're picking in a field far from the farm, the corn goes from the grain cart to one of the trucks.




Dad driving the semi...yes, I made sure I had the chance to honk the horn.


The trucks then unload into the pit, just like the grain cart.


This auger pumps the corn from the pit up to the dryer. The dryer makes sure the corn is dry enough to be sold.


Dad has to climb to the top of the dryer periodically to check everything...he snapped this picture while he was up there.


Once the corn is dry (or while it's waiting to be dried), it is stored in the bins until they sell it.




This corn cob dust is constantly swirling through the air around the farm.


I used to have to just sit on the armrest of Dad's chair, but in the new tractors I have my own!


The tractor's GPS system.


Tractor gears and switches.


They moved the windshield wiper switch to the other side of the tractor, but I still manged to sneak over and turn them on when Dad wasn't around.(read last year's post for that to make sense)








These are the trucks they used when I was little...now they've upgraded to the semis.


Semi truck door.





A couple of more "old school" pictures yet to come...