Harvest Lunches

I have always wondered who has the most important job at harvest. Most people would think it is the combine driver. I, on the other hand, believe it is the person making the lunches. Yes, it is a bad day if the combine breaks down, but trust me, NOTHING is worse than a farmer that misses a meal during harvest!

On our family farm, my grandma makes the daily harvest dinners that are delivered to the field at noon each day. She makes delicious feasts that can get you drooling with just the smell. She packages them into individual Styrofoam containers that are easy to transport. My grandma occasionally takes dinner out to the field however most of the time someone does it for her while she cleans up the kitchen. On the days I get to deliver, I always hope it is not a farm too far away because that is temptation at its finest! I wish there was a car freshener that smelled that good! It is so hard not to sneak someone’s fresh baked n buttered dinner roll during my drive.

Once I get to the field is when the history session starts at everyone stands around the vehicle at our fun picnic in the field. The basic lunch conversations at harvest usually begin with someone asking a question. It could be as simple as, “Who owns that field”?as they point across the road. One person in the group may know the answer right away, but someone else’s answer might include the three previous owners. That leads to a conversation of another farm that person also ran and directions on how to get there. Now that I am in college, I should probably know north from south but I don’t, making it difficult for me to follow their directions. I would prefer if they said right and left but that will never happen. Once the location is found and they figure out who owns the farm some people in the group do not know who that person is, usually it is me, so then we go into what seems like their whole family tree. My grandpa almost always says, “WelI went to school with them.” I seriously wonder how many people that man went to school with because by the sound of it, it was the whole county! Harvest lunches are generally silly conversations with our crew enjoying a great meal delivered to the field and it is these moments that make me realize how important my grandma’s job is in the fall.

Next time you are out in the field eating a huge feast or even just a peanut butter and jelly

sandwich in a sack lunch, remember the cook because they play the most important role of

harvest, keeping the farmer well fed. Like I said, nothing is worse than a hungry farmer!

Enjoy those lunches, big or small, and be sure to thank whoever is feeding you of this season! Farmers feed the world, but the person who feeds the farmer is the true harvest hero! ~ Kesley Holdgrafer