Julie R. Neidlinger: Lone Prairie Blog

The harvest weekend.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

This weekend, I came home from Bismarck and spent time with family and friends. It's right in the middle of harvest, and the guys are out in the field most of the day and on into the night. These photos were taken by Naomi. Her grandpa Frank, her dad Chuck and her brother Charlie are in the photos along with my dad and my brother Jerry.

Today, one of the combines broke down. Jerry and Charlie continued to drive the other two for a while, and the joke was that the two engineers were out driving the combines and the guys with 8th-grade education were fixing them (that's not true, about the education level, by the way).

What I like about the harvest photos you see above is the quintessential harvest moment, the field lunch. It reminds me of another photo and a drawing I did, from the previous generation. I also like the fact that in these photos you not only see three generations, but you see an engineer, an engineer/lawyer, a North Dakota Representative, a man who will celebrate his 90th birthday tomorrow (and still drove combine today), and of course, my awesome dad. I don't think anyone really thought the day would come when these five would all be out working the fields together. I am pretty sure my brother Jerry, after being away from the farm, and out of the country, for so long, is having the time of his life, getting dirty and driving trucks and machinery. It's good to see him happy.

For supper, we women had a meal at our house: Alice, Dorothy, Naomi, Gabie, Erika, Susan, Julie, Mom, and myself. After the meal, Alice and Dorothy told a few hilarious stories about some moments involving past Hampden residents and memories from the farm many years ago.

Earlier in the day, I gave the cat a bath (always a show-stopper moment) and caught up on some baking. Charlie, who stopped in to use the phone before going for a parts run for the defunct combine, grabbed a freshly baked cookie. It was good to get back in the kitchen and bake; it's been a few months. I like baking, and having free access to a real kitchen.

Last night, Erika and Naomi came over and we spent several hours, on past midnight, talking about important things in our lives, ending with a prayer and then a loud crash when the chair (which I had warned Naomi about) gave way. It was an excellent night of friends and laughter and serious talk, too. We also laid plans for a Jane Austen day over Christmas break where we would simply watch Jane Austen movies and wear our elastic-waisted pants and eat junk.

Mom and I have had several good conversations, and I even got in a little "computer training" for her so she has some new things to try on the computer while I'm gone. I put in several hours of piano practice, pounding out Bach and Chopin and music from the movie "The Piano."

The air is filled with the sinus-clogging weight of grain and field dust, the mind and heart full of friends and family. A pretty good weekend so far.