This past week, as a 30 year old, I had a “first time” experience- something that doesn’t happen quite as often at this age as it did even 10 years ago.  My favorite part of new experiences is sharing them with my kids.  Watching their eyes light up with excitement when engaging in a new activity is so fun for parents! However, my 3 year old beat me to this experience by a couple of weeks when he rode the combine with Papa while harvesting beans.  He loved it, and I was so excited to experience it with him this time, in corn!  If I am being totally honest here (always my top choice!), even earlier this year I wasn’t quite sure that the word “tractor” wasn’t just interchangeable for all farm machinery, sort of how “vehicle” refers to all things with a motor.  However, one day during spring planting, I pointed out the car window and told E to look at the “tractor” and heard the following: “No mommy, that’s a COMbine!”…I knew I was in trouble!  Since then, I have had a full education from my 3 year old about the various types of farm machinery- he can go through the big magazines selling it all and tell me what each one is, it is CRAZY- and I can fully identify at least a few now! 🙂

We spent an hour in the field last week and enjoyed our time immensely.  Riding in the combine was quite a different experience than I expected- so I figured I’d tell you about it as a part of my moving to the farm series, as I’m figuring a lot of my readers are a bit like me and have never had some of these experiences either!  Here are some parts of the combine experience I did not expect:

1). I assumed it was LOUD.  Like no conversations, deafening, maybe you need ear plugs loud.  I was so wrong! Not only did E chatter away to both Papa and me while we were riding, but there was also a radio on board- good entertainment!

2). I have never assumed for one moment that farm work was easy, so please don’t hear me wrong here! But I just had no idea what driving a combine entailed.  I didn’t know until riding how much maneuvering and steering and careful planning happens- making it really much more entertaining than I ever pictured!

3). and on that note…I never realized how much you would see!  Even with the tall corn, there are “floor to ceiling” windows on both sides and the front of the cab, and you are quite elevated in combine- so there is quite a view! I thought it might feel very claustrophobic and it didn’t at all.

I can really see how there could be an immense joy in this job, this lifestyle, similarly to how I now see that immense joy about living in the country- something I never imagined I would feel!  Maybe if you have never had the experience of riding in a combine, taking a part of harvest, this will give you a little picture into it! My true heart behind this blog series is that as a city girl, I had a lot of misconceptions about country and farm life, and I am so enjoying breaking those down and learning the multitude of beauty in it all!  Here are a few glimpses of it. 🙂

Move to the Farm part I

Move to the Farm part II