2008 Fall Harvest at the Lackore Farm

We arrived in Iowa just in time to help Kevin and June with their corn harvest, chopping of stalks, and fall tillage. Of course it was a struggle for me to operate the John Deere green equipment as I grew up with International Harvester red equipment. In fact, Kevin and June gave me my own personal bottle of baby powder just to help ward off any rash that I may experience. HA! Jo and I not only enjoyed helping with the harvest, we were able to take photos of the three generations that share harvest time together as a family. We experienced spectacular weather for completing the harvest. Kevin shows some of the golden kernels right out of the drier as the crop is prepared for storage and shipment. We were impressed with the beautiful sunsets with the wind generators in the foreground. Our environment is changing along with today's equipment to harvest a bountiful crop. We have so much to be thankful for.

Sugar Beet Harvest coming to a close

The sugar beet harvest was drawing to a close as the weather changed with rain and the possibility of snow in the forecast. The piles of beets were growing as the harvest continued. We were able to enjoy time together with other RVers that were working the harvest. Jo and I worked during the night and you can see that the work sites were well lit to allow the operation to run 24 hours a day. It was always good to see the sun begin to rise as dawn was near. The rains continued to fall over the area which resulted in some of the crop being left in the fields. All three pilers at our site are shown with the piles growing in length each day. With the muddy fields the lifting of the remaining beets was made more difficult. We enjoyed meeting so many great folks working the harvest. Friendships were made that will last a lifetime.

Piling Sugar Beets in October

The harvesting of sugar beets is in full swing in the Red River Valley. Sugar beets are a perennial plant that store their sugar in the beet root the first year. The growing process is then interrupted to take the beet from the soil and extract the sugar, 17 percent, from the root. The farmers are paid on tonnage delivered and sugar content. The farmers in the Red River Valley own the American Crystal Sugar Company as share holders. These shares give them the opportunity to grow beets on their land, one share equals one acre. At harvest time the beets are topped and then they are lifted from the soil and hauled to the piling sites for storage. During the winter months the stored beets are processed at the plants. We are helping at the Kennedy site and will pile 13,500 acres or about 300,000 tons of beets. The site will off load over 1400 straight trucks and semis in a 24 hour period. There are three piling machines at this site and they are a very large machine to handle many trucks over a short period of time. Each truck is weighed in and out, a sample is pulled from 40 percent of the trucks, and the piles continue to grow during the harvest campaign. Each of the three piles is 20 feet high and approximately 200 feet in width and about a quarter of a mile in length. The beets will weigh between 1 and 5 pounds each. The farmers continue to lift beets for piling as long as it is not too muddy. They are also controlled by the internal temperature of the beets which needs to be between 32 degrees and 55 degrees. As the air temperature drops, the toppers need to stay closer to the lifters in the fields as the leafy tops form a canopy over the beet roots and keep them from freezing. There is a processing plant in Drayton, ND, just across the MN and ND border. The beets we are piling will be processed there over the winter and the American Crystal Sugar you purchase at your local grocery store most likely came from the Red River Valley.

Arriving in North Dakota

Jo and I have headed out on our next adventure. We are headed to North Dakota to learn about and help with the American Crystal Sugar Company's sugar beet harvest. American Crystal Sugar Company is a farmer owned coop where one share equals one acre of beets. This determines the number of acres to be planted and harvested. They hire RVers to come into the Red River Valley to operate the equipment that piles the beets in the valley and over the next 8 months the plants process the beets into the granular sugar we all purchase at our local grocery stores. We left the chained gang at home and hope they continue to have a good winter. Our campground during the harvest is in the small town of Stephen, MN on the northeast side of the valley, in the northwest corner of MN, just 44 miles from the Canadian border. The Red River Valley is a large lake bed from thousands of years ago. Lake Agassiz, (The Red River Valley) was the lake formed by the glacial era and now produces some of the best sugar beets in the USA. The farm land here is a black loam clay soil that grows some great crops. The lay of the land is so flat a marble won't even roll off the highway for miles in the valley. There are 420,000 acres of sugar beets grown in the valley and 39 collection sites, our site is in the Drayton District, where they are stored and processed over winter. The town of Stephen, population 701, is known for their 9-man football team's success, having won the state championship for the last 5 years. We hear the team practicing in the early morning hours, starting at 5:30 AM before school starts. They start at this time due to the farming activities and help needed after school. The trees in this area are already turning to some great fall colors. We hope the weather holds for the harvest to be completed in a timely manner.

Summer of 2008 - Part 4

Jo and I have found and purchased the International Harvester 460 tractor, the same model I purchased when I was 16. We are having a fun time putting together a collection of tractors that we had on the farm when we grew up. The 39'ers, a group started by 5 couples married in 1939, Vaughn's parents were one of the couples, got together at the farm for our Fall Celebration. One member, Alice, of the original 39'ers was able to be us. We invited neighbors and friends to join us and we look forward to getting together again next fall. The Kaune Kampout was held and the family joined in fun, a great word game held around the campfire, (Oh by the way, was "water buffalo" given? If not this is the last one), and of course the wonderful tasting omelets on Sunday morning. The sunsets from our view at the farm are always beautiful. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.