Harvest Pictures

I was amazed at how many people would stop on the side of the highway to take pictures and watch us harvest potatoes. Then it occurred to me that if you had never seen spuds harvested before, it would be pretty cool! So here is my interpretation of how it works:

The windrowers (or crossovers) dig in front of the digger (some call it a combine). This gives the digger and truck a place to drive. The windrower drops the potatoes it digs into the next row over so the digger will dig twice as many rows at one time. Our windrowers dig 4 rows at a time, and we had 2 of them; so one windrower would dig 4 rows of potatoes and drop them on one side, and the other would do the same on the other side so the digger could dig 12 rows at a time. You can fill a truck really fast digging 12 rows at a time!
The windrower at work!
When the windrowers have "opened up" the digger comes through and fills the truck. The trucks have little doors on the side that can fold down so the digger boom can be lowered inside the bed of the truck, lessening the bruising that can occur. When the trucks are filled, they return to the cellar and the next truck pulls under the digger. Each truck can hold around 32,000 pounds of potatoes. On a good day we could fill 50-60 trucks.

We have people all along the "line" that take out rocks and clods before they reach the pile in the cellar. There are pipes on the floor of the cellar which air blows through so that the temperature can be maintained until we take the potatoes out in the spring.

We are happy to have finished harvest before that crazy snow storm hit on Saturday! We feel it is a blessing that we had no injuries or other major problems. We hope all of our neighboring farmers and friends will have good luck as they finish up also.

Vue Salon and Spa

My friend Davian is opening a salon in a few months. She is going to let me rent a station in the salon so I can keep doing hair! She has started working on the building every spare minute, so I thought it would be fun to post before pictures so everyone can compare them to the finished product. It's going to be good! Yay for Arco! There will be 2 stylists, a massage room, a nail tech, and a tanning bed. No more mullets! (Just kidding there aren't that many mullets in Arco).

New Niece

She isn't so "new" anymore, but we think she is just adorable! We can't wait for the blessing so we can finally meet Kaylee Nicole! Isn't Braden such a good big brother?

Farming 101

Class Description: Farming 101; a 24 credit class, transferable to many other useful applications in life. (Let's just say I can jump anything with some battery cables.)

I signed up for this class a little over 4 years ago. The professor is pretty cool, he doesn't ever flunk me out even though I deserve it a lot. Actually, the only reason I took this course in the first place was because I thought the professor was HOT! (I think he likes me too, why else would you bring a city girl to the hands-on classroom everyday?)

So, my assignment for the day was to rake the hay I had swathed last week. (yes, I have successfully passed the swather-operator course). I was doing a fine job on the rake. I came to a part in the field that was really bumpy! Of course I followed the instructions of the professor and slowed down the rpm's. Then after continuing on for another 200 feet, it was not getting any better. In fact I was having a hard time sitting in my seat because the cab was so tilted. I decided I better stop. Of course I could not open the door on the tractor, so I had to wait to be rescued by Ryan (the professor's brother). This is what I found when I got out:

Wow! What a discovery! It wasn't a bumpy field after all! I had just operated the rake on a flat tire for 1/4 of the way around the pivot. Let's just say I did not receive an A. However, the professor did not even get mad. He must really enjoy me, why else would he be so patient?!?