Tonight as I was driving home from getting my hair cut I passed a scene that brought back so many memories I literally started laughing in the car (Luckily, I was by myself, or my passengers would have thought I was nuts!).
The scene was of a potato field. It was dark. And moving slowly through the rows of potatoes was a lit-up potato combine. Just looking at it was nostalgic! I think from the age of 8 til I was 19, I worked on one of the field combines or cellar crews every fall.
Here are the random thoughts/memories of tonight...
*****Endless dirt. No matter how many showers you took during harvest you were still DIRTY!
*****Dry, cracked fingers. I would go through so many gloves. Every day there would be new holes. I would tape the tips of my fingers every morning in hopes of avoiding the end results, but by the end of harvest my fingers were always nasty!! Between hangnails and dryness, it seriously looked like I had leprousy.
*****The never-ending day! As I watched those poor, poor people on the combine I was praying for them that they were not having to go back to the cellar and join in that crew after the field-combine stopped for the night. Whenever you thought you were done, you weren't.
*****Fourteen hour work day, two hour drive, one hour shower, about six hours of sleep after eating dinner and breakfast. All of this for anywhere from 3-6 weeks, and I'm pretty sure that I didn't even get paid minimum wage...sure, sure, I did get room and board for the rest of the year...
*****Writing names on the cellar (uhhh...if this is a surprise to you dad, um, sorry!). Whenever there were breaks between trucks, my sisters and cousins would run outside, desperate for some non-potato smelling air. We would always sit on the sides of the cellar, where one year we started carving our names in to the aluminum. Every year after that, we would add on the names of the boys we had crushes on with our names. Sadly, just this last year that cellar was redone, forever destroying the grafiti of my youth.
*****Making up songs and games to make the time go faster. We got pretty pathetic as the day got longer. Basketball to the other side of the table (again, sorry dad...maybe you shouldn't have paid me at all) and songs about rotten potatoes were my favorite.
*****Not being able to eat potatoes for months after harvest. For some reason after seeing thousands and thousands of potatoes roll past you for fourteen hours a day, you really don't want to see another potato for as long as you live...you get over it in a few weeks, but until then...bleh!
So, while I am very grateful that I am not out on one of those combines right now, I really am glad that I experienced potato harvest while I was growing up. Not only do I have the best memories of spending time with family members (and doing some really kooky things for entertainment :-) but it helped me to gain a good work ethic. I worked for what I earned. So, thank-you mom and dad for not just handing me whatever I wanted. Thank-you for making me work for it. I hope that my girls get the chance to work in potato harvest at least once. It is definitely an experience that every youth needs to have in order learn to be grateful for any other 'cushy' job they may later have.
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6 comments:
i was "fortunate" never to have worked spud harvest, but all of my brothers did. to this day that smell that comes only during harvest is called spud dirt in our house.
great stories and memories.
It was like reading about my own life!!! I have those same feelings when I drive past cellars during harvest, and I have even caught myself smiling and laughing. As much as I am GLAD Dad doesn't raise potatoes anymore, I miss it at the same time. Don't tell him that or he might decide to plant potatoes or something :). We made great memories during harvest, especially the one year when me, you, Becky, and Brittany were in love with the gang from "3 Ninjas", and carved their names on the cellar. HAHA
Ahhhhhh potato harvest! As I was driving to Blackfoot, I saw the same thing...cellars, tractors, and truck after truck of dirt with a few potatoes in them. The smell of the cellar and the dirt caked all over my body is such a pleasant thought! My favorite memory is of Grandma though...that women is a machine during harvest...and she would expect any of her offspring to work just as hard or else:):):) No slacking in the Gneiting clan! I love your stories and can safely say that I hope they remain memories because I have no desire to ever participate in another potato harvest again. (Is that sacrilegious for a farmers daughter to say??? oh well!)
You gotta love potato harvest! Like you, I am glad that I had the chance to work during harvest and learn good work ethic as well. I also remember carving names in the cellar. What were those names...oh ya, Rocky, Colt and Tum Tum. :) I believe we were in love with Rocky.
I don't know if you remember or not, but one other memory I will never forget is sassing my parents and getting kicked out of the van in the middle of Fort Hall. After about 10 minutes or so, I really wondered if my dad was going to come back! Needless to say, I learned a valuable lesson that night-don't sass your parents in a moving vehicle. Okay, just kidding. You should never sass your parents. :)
I can't stop laughing. All the memories are just flowing now. I almost miss potato harvest. The hours were long, but we were quite the entertainment for each other. I totally forgot about the 3 ninjas oh my gosh. I'm sad that the cellar got redone because I would have like to remember all the crazy boys I had crushes cuz I'm sure I had more than most of you girls carved in up there. I remember carving them in the trees in the pasture at grandma's house to we should go look one day. Awe potato harvest I can still smell somedays!
Sorry we missed taylee's party sat. It took us longer to get home than I estimated. Hunter was dissapointed :(
Potato harvest...boy, I have to say that I am not envious! However, I would love to put my kids to work like that!!!
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