i miss combining

It is always at this time of year that my thoughts return to fall. There is a certain light, a smell, a feeling about fall that I have experienced almost my entire life. It is because the fall means combine time!

It is a stressful time, but an extremely satisfying time. It is a time full of hope and angst. Scratchy, itching collars. Swollen, bleeding knuckles. But soon after it is done I miss it greatly. After the excitement of Christmas my mind floats back to sun filled days of early October and the sounds and smells of harvest time. I am not quite sure why I look back more than I look forward. I guess I have just always appreciated harvest time more than any other time of year. It is simply my favorite.

Heritage Grains for 2010 – Part 3

Harvesting (Combining) the seed plots once they get too big to harvest by hand becomes more of a challenge. I have been agonizing over the purchase of a newer, larger combine for the past year. I have pretty much made up my mind to buy an International 914. It is a large pull-type combine from the late 70’s. It is a conventional combine as opposed to a rotary so it is simple and cheap to repair; and I have the 3788 2+2 to pull it with. They are a good sized combine for under $2000! With this new combine I will be able keep the Gleaner C2 free to harvest the smaller plots and just clean it out between plots. It is small enough to clean very easily. I am always on the lookout for another C2 sized combine. They are less than $1000 and usually closer to free!