
I miss working on this farm. Everything has pretty much remained the same. The rumble of gigantic machines that you get to drive and name weird names. The funny inside jokes you have with your co-workers over the short-wave radios.The dust and the seed that gets everywhere- in your cab, in your clothes, in your food. The lunchbox full of goodies that you wait to eat until the lunchtime traffic update comes on. The Country Top-40 that you know by heart.
Zap, with his respectable handlebar mustache, is still one of the nicest men I have ever met, and he still drives around in his fix-it truck with the uncanny ability to immobilize any possible conflicting situations with his gentle spirit. He still brings his two little girls with him from time to time, who aren't as little anymore. Hans is now the supervisor of the harvest crew, and walks around the field with his new black lab puppy, Widget. He specializes in the sarcastic. Casey stopped by with a new grass seed truck and talked for a while, even though he had to get on a windrower at 3am the next morning to work night crew. Although he is not as sarcastic as Hans, he is still the Master of Making Fun. Oh, and then there's Stefan. First summer on the farm, he's doing pretty darn good driving truck and learning everything in a language that's not German. With his dry wit and ready laugh, he fits right in.
Elle's still driving the bank-out wagon, and drives that thing better than anybody. Donald did do some adjustments this past winter, so it now is not quite as bouncy but only goes a whopping 2 miles per hour at top road speed. She laments about now being the slowest piece of machinery on the road, but I can tell she wouldn't trade it for anything. Emma no longer drives a combine and has now been promoted to truck driver status. In honor for "Trucker Tuesday," she even dressed the part, complete with a Kenworth hat and cowboy boots. All she's missing is the beer belly and 3 ex-wives.


This life is the best life. It's a hard life, full of long days and early mornings, tears and sweat and sometimes blood when a finger or two gets caught in a gear. It's a culture of teamwork, a culture of hard work, and a culture of respect. As Elle puts it, "It's Agriculture."
Signing off,
B
This post made me smile so much! Made me miss farm work! Your such a great writer. Keep it up! I love reading these. Love you!
ReplyDelete