It's Official - harvest and our vacation are over

Wow, what an amazing month it has been! I left Manhattan on June 18 to start my summer vacation and work project at Thielen Farms in Dorrance. Nancy arrived a few days later on June 21. We both returned home to Manhattan today, Monday, July 14. I had an absolute blast in those 27 days. I can't speak for Nancy, but I think she had many, many new experiences. Nancy spent most of her time with Susan organizing everything from feeding everyone to running for parts to caring for children to hauling anyone who needed to be somewhere they weren't. Those two made quite the team in all they had to do.

Where to start on all we did? Well, most of you know most of what we did because we posted it on the blog for you to see. I spoke with Kevin today and he helped me remember many of the tasks I helped with: driving the combine, driving the grains carts, driving the wheat truck, moving vehicles from one field to the next, drilling milo and silage feed, sorting cattle, hauling cattle, mowing lawns, caring for precious children, riding the boat on Lake Wilson, lots of eating, lots of teasing, and lots of really, really good time with family and friends.

Matt nicknamed this year's event as our fun, old-fashioned family harvest -it was in reference to a line from Christmas Vacation movie when Chevy Chase says nobody is leaving this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. Well, Nancy and I actually left harvest one day before the end only because we both had appointments in Manhattan today. The fun old-fashioned family harvest officially ended at Thielen Farms today at 3:20. I think we started cutting on about June 26 at 6:18 - we had the first breakdown at 6:18 and 10 seconds later. That's right - as soon as Joey engaged the combine in the very first field on the very first day, it stopped. They had the combine over-hauled and serviced by the professionals prior to harvest, but the professionals put a part in wrong. We had two rain delays and two major breakdowns on the combines - one on the very first day and one of the last day. Anyway, there were too many experiences to share on this blog, I just hope you enjoyed the photos and video.

I do know I will incorporate some of my fun, old-fashioned family harvest lessons into my leadership classes at K-State this fall semester. The teamwork needed to achieve such a multi-challenging task as harvest was unbelievable. So many people did whatever was asked of them, whenever it was asked. Of course, when you are dealing with mother-nature, you never know what the day will bring. I will continue my reflection of harvest so that I can put the experiences and lessons learned into context for my students.

Nancy tells me she is going to write her own reflections about harvest. I am not sure if she will post on my blog or if she will start her own blog.

I want to give a special shout to Thielen Farms folks and thank them for a wonderful, wonderful 27 days. So to Susan, Joey, Matt, Kevin and their families - thanks and I hope I didn't bust-up too much equipment!

Mary Kay