Wednesday, September 17, 2014


     Corn silage season is done for another year.  Actually, it has been done for us for a little over a week.  I see and hear many farmers who say this is the best time, it smells so good,  and so on.  Well, for me it is not my favorite time.  Don't get me wrong, I love knowing we have feed cut and stored for the coming year.  The process, however, does not make me all that happy.  Why, you may ask?  Well, for starters, if I have to drive, that is a whole new stress in life. I'm not very good at it.
      I can handle driving on flat level ground where there is not that push to hurry because it's not raining today, but it will tomorrow, mentality.   Driving  straight up a steep hill with a wagon full of silage is not my cup of tea. Add to that hill, a wet, muddy, slippery field.  Although, I got pretty comfortable with that after a few times.  And I don't like driving on  slope.  I always feel like I'm tipping over. Then we were unhooking on the road for a little bit at the bottom of a hill.  I figured I would unhook where my MIL did.  Wrong, I tried that and my wagon rolled back.  Garrett was with me at that time and says, "Uh, mommy? it's rolling."  Thank God the angels were strong and stopped it from rolling over the steep ditch!
     Then there is the safety factor.  Jason is the unloader and runs the bagger.  The pto makes me nervous, even with the shield on.  Then when they are working on the chopper head, Jason and his dad are setting underneath it.  I finally asked if there was a safety bar to prevent it from falling.  After that, at least they put a block under it so if it fell, that was there. 
     I see photos of all these other farmwives with their kids in the tractor with them.  Not me!  It requires my full attention so kids can't come.  Alex needed to talk to me one time, and climbed in.  I said, "Alex you can't ride with me.  I'm not very good at it."  He says, "I know."  Grant said once, "Grandma drives faster than you."  And my husband said that, too.  I like the feeling of contributing to our life.  But I also know my limits, and driving the tractor for silage is pushing them. 
     I hope everyone else's harvest season is going well, with big yields and safety for all.  A lot of seed corn is being picked but no regular field corn.  We have another cutting of hay down so hopefully no rain is on it's way.  Fall calving is in full swing so I am busy with calves morning and night.