Tag Archives: wheat harvest

On Your Mark, Get Set…GO!

by nebraskawheatie

The transition from “home, home” to the harvest world has always been a hard one for me. It takes everything I have to push through it year after year after year. This time, though, it was the worst!

When we began this way of life as a family in 1990, we had a young family. I was young, Jim was young and we only had two of our four daughters at that time. Jamie would have been 4 and Jenna only 2. Taylor and Callie came along way after this lifelong adventure began for us. Funny how at the time my children were growing up (and I was getting older), I never really thought about them growing up – and not being with us.

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Feeling a Little Blue Tonight (Video)

by nebraskawheatie

I should have more pictures to share but I don’t. But what I do have is a video that Taylor put together for the All Aboard Wheat Harvest. She and Jim had an uneventful trip (a good thing) to Shattuck, OK and back again.

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Harvest 2013…Patience and Faith Required!

by nebraskawheatie

“Our worries and fears of the unknown, however, do not in any way diminish or deter our sovereign, omniscient Lord. Instead, He desires that each of us step forward in faith. He has promised that when we do so, He will provide us with the guidance we long for (Isa. 30:21).”

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When Are You Leaving?

by nebraskawheatie

Answer…I don’t know.

That’s the question – and the answer – that seems to be fairly common for us these days. Everyone in our world knows that we should be getting ready to leave – and wondering why we’re still here. We have the “extreme weather” to thank for our sudden stop in action. Remember that “extreme” cold weather we had about three weeks ago? We had snow in May, Texas had a severe freeze.  The freeze put a halt on the pre-harvest work. Jim made the phone call to the fellow harvester we help. When Delaine saw that it was Jim calling, he didn’t even say hello – he answered the phone with, “I don’t know”.  The “I don’t know” was later changed to, “we’re not needed”. The insurance adjuster visited the wheat fields only to find the wheat crop MIGHT yield 4 bushels to the acre.  Not enough to justify the help of a custom harvester. It had to be a disappointment to our farmer but an even greater disappointment for us. No wheat…no income.

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Part 3 – Why I Am the Way I Am

by nebraskawheatie

I started this post nearly a week ago. I hadn’t finished it because I wanted to add a few pictures. Unfortunately, my body decided to get really sick after I wrote this. I think I may make it…even though I think it would have been better to have someone just shoot me. I’m going to push the “publish” button without pictures. We’ll just hope I feel better soon and I can add pictures later. I have been reminded of something – BIG TIME – this week…when you have your health-you have the world!

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Combines, Tractors, and so much more – it’s nearly showtime!

by nebraskawheatie

For the past week, I’ve felt like a kid on Christmas Eve. I haven’t been able to get a good nights sleep simply because my brain wouldn’t shut down after I hit the pillow. It’s convention time…the Z Crews favorite event of the year!!

rp_20130127-002230.jpgKent standing by the USCHI logo.

There’s always so many preparations for an event such as this. This year is even more challenging because we’ve never collocated our convention with any other show. US Custom Harvesters, Inc. is 30 years old as of April 2013. This year, we opted to collocate our anniversary convention with the AG CONNECT event being held in Kansas City, MO. It looks like it’s going to be one HUGE show! Continue reading →

Part 2 – Why I Am the Way I Am

by nebraskawheatie

With Part 1 of this “story”, I left you with “When Grandma asked me if I’d like to join them the summer of 1974, I JUMPED on the idea. I’ll turn that part of my story into Part 2.” I was SO EXCITED when Grandma asked me if I’d want to go – I was 12 years old in 1974. I think I was most excited about the idea of getting to spend time with her and Grandpa. Staying in the trailer house and keeping the floors cleaned came in at a close second. Why? I have absolutely no idea. Maybe it was just the “smallness” of it. I don’t remember much about my first year on the road with Grandpa and Grandma but I’ll try to dig into that cobweb filled memory closet of mine and see what I can pull out. One of my favorite memories riding with Grandma was listening to the radio. She was so good about letting me listen to “my” music for 15 minutes and then it was “her” music for 15 minutes. I can still hear her singing “her” music! And to this day, every time I hear something that she enjoyed singing, it makes me think of her. A couple of her favorite sayings…”stop and smell the roses” and “one day at a time”! Continue reading →

BIG business catering to gluten-free diets

by nebraskawheatie

Thanks to one of my readers, a link to the Celiac.com website was shared with me. After I visited it, I became aware of at least three interesting facts I’d like to share. I definitely believe there are people who genuinely suffer from Celiac Disease and gluten issues. I DON’T believe we should all stop eating wheat – simply because of the ridiculous claims that are being reported through our media sources.

  1. Celiac Disease is hereditary.

Celiac disease, also known as gluten intolerance, is a genetic disorder that affects at least 1 in 133  Americans. Symptoms of celiac disease can range from the classic features, such as diarrhea, weight loss, and malnutrition, to latent  symptoms such as isolated nutrient deficiencies but no gastrointestinal symptoms.

2. There is clearly a difference between Celiac Disease and Gluten sensitivities. They are defined as “non-celiac” and “celiac gluten sensitivity”.

3. Catering to gluten-free diets is BIG BUSINESS!

$6.1bn spent 2011 on gluten-free foods in the USA—and a 30% growth from 2006 to 2010 in Canada to $2.64bn—indicate “Big Business” complete with the risk of missed, omitted, and mis-information for the goal of promoting greater consumption of gluten-free processed foods.

According to this CNBC.com article published on May 20, 2011, titled Gluten-free Foods Paying Off Big:

“Gluten-free ingredients can be pricey — Kupper estimates a gluten-free product can cost two to three-times more than regular items — but that has yet to dent their growth.

In 2010, gluten-free foods racked up $2.5 billion in global sales, accounting for more than a quarter of all food-intolerance purchases, according to Euromonitor International.”

A Wheatie’s View on Wheat

by nebraskawheatie

Ok…that’s it…last straw…now it’s my turn!

I heard about cardiologist Dr. William Davis and his book, Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight and Find Your Path Back to Health quite some time ago. The first time I remember seeing mention of this guy was when a friend of mine posted his concern about the popularity of the book on his FaceBook page.  We are both harvesters and have been in and around wheat all our lives. Neither of us grow wheat, but we harvest wheat so it came off as ridiculous to both of us.

Yesterday, I opened my email’s  home page and what’s staring back at me? An article written by George Dvorsky titled, Why you should probably stop eating wheat. Whaaaaaaaatttttttt?????

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Why I Am the Way I Am – Part 1

by nebraskawheatie

I received an email from a gentleman in August asking me if I’d consider doing a presentation about custom harvesting at a meeting (involving agricultural engineers) at the AG CONNECT show the end of January. I remember where I was and what I was doing the very instant I received this email. Why? Because it instantly made me sick to my stomach thinking about talking in front of anyone, let alone educated engineers!  I was sitting in the buddy seat of the combine with Jim in Montana. I read the email to him and his next words were, “Maybe you should see if Jon would do it”. Incentive enough to reconsider the idea that I couldn’t do it and show Mr. Jim I COULD do it. I was hoping for a little encouragement but he probably knew how I was feeling (terrified) and was trying to make it better the only way he knew how. I thought about it for a while before I answered with my “yes, I think I can do this”. I decided God had opened this door for me and I needed to walk through it. Continue reading →