I haven't lived on the farm all that long, but I felt like this harvest was turning into something very stressful before everything came together. We hadn't had rain for a long time and were worried that the rye would not grow to the maturity that we would like.
Then toward the middle of last week, the 7-day forecast seemed to hold nothing but rain! Some decisions had to be made in what felt like a hurry. I wasn't really in on those decisions, but I was praying that whatever decision was made would be made in unity and that God would bring everything about in his perfect timing. And really that's what happened!
The guys started chopping on Thursday evening, and around midnight something broke down on the harvester, so they had to quit for the night, so they got a little sleep. Then they started chopping again mid-morning Friday and ran all day and through the night until Saturday around noon when everything was in the silos.
And what a miracle! I don't think that we expected to get as much or as good quality rye as we did. It was awesome!
Plus I got to help out in the field for a little bit. I got to drive a tractor pulling the tedder (which spreads the rye out to help it dry more) for the first time ever! It was pretty fun, but a little stressful because it was the first time I had ever driven that tractor and I was pulling a 25 ft wide piece of equipment behind me. It was difficult for me to see where I had already tedded because I'm not very experienced at that, I was just hoping that I didn't miss any huge chunks. Josiah was watching me from on top of one of the silos, he said that I went over a section twice at one point, but I don't think that really hurt any thing.
This is what the tedder looks like when it is folded up:
So it was a great, busy, and tiring harvest (when is it not like that?). And now I am thankful for the rain because it gives us a little chance to rest up until the next busy time of hauling manure and planting corn.
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