combine: Browse The Strips
Thursday, August 4, 1983
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Lynn's Comments: During the harvest, we had to get a full meal plus cold drinks and dessert out to the fields every lunch hour. The hired men needed lots to eat, and real home cooking was expected. When I had the chance to drive the swather, tractors, trucks, or combine, I took it fast. Sitting in an air conditioned cab and going around in circles beat the hot kitchen job any time.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Lynn's Comments: Driving the combine was like piloting a ferry. These machines are enormous. They grind their way around the fields, picking up swath left to dry and crushing the seed out of the grain heads. The seed is then augured up into a box where it's stored, and when the box is full, it's augured again into a truck running parallel. Both machines work in tandem until the work is done. When the weather is threatening, crews work from dusk until dawn. Fields look like harbours as lights from the combines float across them like ships in the night.