Makin' Memories on the Farm

September is a month filled with so much excitement and nerves on our farm. Our kids are back in school, the house is too quiet again, and our little chicken tenders have lots of worries of their own at the start of a new school year.

This month also brings a lot of commotion on local farms, as we are on the cusp of harvest season! September brings out the combines, tractors and grain carts, header carts, trucks hauling grain, and other big equipment…that means extra traffic on the roadways.

As a farm family, we wanted to use this month to talk about safety on the roads. We know we are taking up extra space, but it’s necessary for us to travel along the roads when moving between fields to harvest.

Here are a few reminders as we begin harvest season:

Allow equipment extra space. Don’t follow us too closely in case we have to stop, slow down, and/or move over for oncoming traffic.

Only pass when it is safe, not on a bend, double yellow, or with oncoming traffic.

If you are pulling off the road to allow equipment to pass by, check the opposite side of the roadway for mailboxes, road signs, poles, etc that will stop us from moving between you and said object. Shout out to those who are so kind to pull over to allow us the extra time and space!

If equipment is coming down the road, make sure you have plenty of time and space before pulling out in front of the equipment. It takes extra time for us to slow down and stop.

There are times when the buddy seat is filled with a little passenger, and for this we ask for extra precaution when driving on the roads.

We all want to get to our destinations safely. Following general rules of the road, such as not passing on bends and double yellows, and allowing extra space, goes a long way to getting you to your destination and us to our destination safely.

Harvest is one of our favorite times of the year on the farm, but it is also our busiest time on the farm. It takes all of us working together to make harvest season successful.

I’ve said this on social media, so I’ll say it here…the people in the cab of the equipment are just that - people - and they mean the world to someone. Let’s make sure no one’s world is shattered this harvest season.