October, 2021 - C.E. Lemieux Jr

I always enjoy working calves in the spring and fall. Heading down to the corrals on a crisp morning. Listening to the call of the cattle – bulls, cows, and calves all carrying on. It’s as much about the nostalgia as anything; the connection to the past, the ranching, the cowboying, and the community.

https://www.freeimages.com/photo/tractor-5-1386643

And I wouldn’t mind taking a turn at sweeping a field or getting involved in a harvest again. But my actual farming experience was pretty limited; just a few summers as a hired hand. After that initial turn at sweeping a field, when some people would have fired me the first day, I spent a little more time in the tractor that summer. I took a few more rounds with the sweep and I moved round bales with the three-point.

She don’t think my tractor’s sexy, and she’ll never take a ride on my big green tractor. I won’t be driving an International Harvester, and the kid that falls for my girl won’t be marrying the farmer’s daughter. But, I had my shot.

As a young man looking for work, I dabbled in farming. I spent a couple summers just driving a wheat harvest truck. The Power Take Off was a little daunting at first, but luckily I had a pretty good teacher. Though I was nervous as heck – just imagining I would throw that load of grain back too fast and tip the truck, or that I would forget which PTO knob to pull back on first, or worst yet, that I would forget to drop the bed and take out the top of the elevator dump on my way out – my teacher was patient and encouraging. I was working for her folks, and although we were classmates, and peers, she didn’t make fun of my anxiousness. After a few trips to the elevator, I seemed to get the hang of it and by the next year, I was what you call a professional.

Month: October 2021

Green Acres Part Two

Green Acres Part One