It’s been a week since our last update. So, what have we been up to???
Well it has been an incredible time here in Fisher, Minnesota. We have been very busy helping (as best as we can) with preparing for the upcoming Sugar Beet harvest.
In the past week we have done the following:
- Practiced driving the semi-trucks that the farm has, getting ready for the sugar beet harvest. Chris has been assigned to a Volvo semi-automatic 10-speed truck, and Ken has been assigned to an International manual 10-speed truck. Both trucks pull Loadline 34’ end-dump grain trailers.
- We both got to spend a couple of days plowing (chisel plow and high-speed disc) fields where the wheat had already been harvested. Each wheat field gets tilled twice with several weeks in between tilling. This is done so that the wheat stubble can be mixed into the soil and then composted over the winter and ready for sugarbeet planting in April. The crop rotation (in any single field) for our farmer is wheat, then sugar beets, then soybeans, repeat. Crop rotation each year is important so the soil stays nutrient-rich for each new crop. If you kept the same crop in the same field every year the yield would drop.
- On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week we drove trucks for sugar beet “pre-pile”. Pre-pile is when the farmer “opens” the headlands of each sugar beet field. As the harvester (lifter) does its thing, we then drive up next to it in the field and the lifter uses a series of conveyor belts to launch the sugar beets into the trailer of the truck. As rookies, and greener than the sugar beet leaves themselves, this is a pretty stressful time. There is A LOT to think about, especially when you are driving next to the lifter in the field and then again once you arrive at the piling station 10-12 miles away.
- Both of us managed to get our trucks stuck in the fields!! But, this happened to several other drivers as well. We tried opening a field one afternoon after a morning rain. Getting stuck happens so often that there is a tractor on site with a tow bar attached that is ready to tow the truck out of the field.
- On Thursday, we “helped” to swap out several disc bearings for the high-speed plow, ran into town for supplies a couple of times, cleaned up one of the shops, did some plowing, and drove a different tractor towing a scraper blade to spread the piles of “tare” dirt that is dumped back in the field from where beets were harvested.
- On Friday, Chris disc plowed all day, and Ken “helped” in the shop repairing a fuel line on a bobcat and changing the fluids and filters on three of the tractors.
- We are off this weekend. Like last week, this means an early morning trip into town to visit the post office to see if any of you have sent us any mail (mailing address is in a previous post), then on to the laundromat to get clean clothes to wear next week!
- Last weekend we went to mass at the St Thomas Newman Center at the University of North Dakota, in Grand Forks, ND. We will likely go there again this weekend, then stop at Aldi for groceries for next week.
- On Monday we will have one last day at sugar beet pre-pile, and then spend some days harvesting soybeans!
- EVERY DAY here is an incredible journey. EVERY DAY we learn something new. EVERY DAY we don’t take for granted that “We RVery Blessed!”
The sunrises are amazing. When we walk out of the RV in the morning we are greeted by this view. Incredible!!!
This is an unusual shot of the moon. Not just because it was a full (harvest) moon, but mostly because we were up late enough to catch it!!!
We got an AMAZON delivery!!!! So exciting!
On Sunday we cleaned the interior AC vents. Ewwww!!
Here, Ken is checking the water detector alarm that we have placed above the ceiling. It tested out great! He removes the speaker cover and speaker and digs around above the ceiling to find the detector.
The stained glass window and altar at the St Thomas Newman Center, at the University of North Dakota, in Grand Forks, ND.
Chris is chatting on the phone after work one day.
Another beautiful sunrise!
Here the “lifter” is lifting the sugar beets out of the ground and running them through a series of conveyors eventually loading them into the truck, driven by Chris!
This is one of the “headlands” that has been harvested. About two or three lifter widths of land are harvested during pre-pile so that once the main harvest starts both the lifter and the truck can get turned around quickly.
A rear shot of the “lifter”.
This is what a sugar beet looks like! There is a defoliator tractor that goes through the field first and removes the leafy green top part of the beet.
Here there are 12 rows of sugar beets that have been “de-foliated” meaning that the leaves have been removed by the rotobeater, ready to be harvested by the lifter.
Sugar beets…as big as your head!
These three beets somehow made it home on the back of the truck. This is no bueno, because it means we didn’t have the truck positioned correctly next to the lifter!
This pic is at the “piling station” in Crookston, MN. That red illuminated sign tells the truck driver to move forward, back, lift the box or lower the box.
A shot at the piling station. There are 13 piling stations, just in Crookston, MN. There are many, many throughout northern Minnesota and North Dakota.
Pre-pile time is like a sports practice. It’s like warm-ups.
The back of the 34′ Loadline dump trailer.
One of our fellow drivers is getting towed out of the field. Next up to be towed out was Chris, followed by Ken!!
An empty trailer, nice and clean. No tare dirt. There is a heavy thick piece of plastic added to the bottom of the trailer to help the beets and dirt slide out!
After dropping off the load of beets at the piling station, the station will “return” to you the dirt that fell off of the beets they received. Then the driver returns that dirt (and small beets) back to the field where it was harvested from.
Ken is checking the air pressure in the drive tires of his truck.
We don’t think we suck at what we are doing, but we are certainly “out of our lane”!!!
Chris is helping to reinstall several discs from the plow where the bearings had to be replaced. They no longer spun. If they don’t spin, they will fill up with dirt and clog the plow.
The scraper in action.
Ken spent one morning going around to each of the fields we had “pre-piled” from and spread out the “tare dirt”.
Eating lunch on the go!
Chris is in a giant eight-wheel John Deere tractor using the speed disc tilling the field.
We know this looks like the same picture from earlier, but it isn’t!
Ken is swapping out the bearings on one of the plow discs.
Chris’ office behind us.
Ken helped to change the oil and filters and add other fluids on three of the tractors. One tractor takes 25-27 quarts of oil!!!
his is one of our “weigh-in” receipts. We get another one as we “weigh-out” when leaving the piling station.
These two “Minnesota State Birds” were having a moment on our truck, just before Ken ended their glory by smooshing them. The last thing we need in Minnesota are more flies!!
