Warning complete harvest post forthcoming:

“If you’re not living on the edge you’re taking up too much room”

Somehow this quote keeps entering my life encouraging me to get out of my same ol same and shake the norm up a little.

Idk what norm looks like to you- but this time of year- I’ve done the same routine 1000s of times. Load up my “farming without a cab” starter kit (sunscreen, rain coat, sunglasses, earplugs, battery pack, etc) and jump on my faithful 7330 John Deere and hit the field. From there the dust and the silage and the good times roll until the end of the day and I drag home a filthy, exhausted, completely happy wreck. Repeat the next day.

But something happened this week that will forever change the tint in my rose colored glasses.

I tasted life on the other side of the tracks.

I’ve lost count how many years/ how many conversations have happened because of the differing opinions on equipment. But we’ve burned up a fair amount of energy on the subject, particularly with our friends at Shen Valley Custom. Invariably the conversation happens and it usually follows the same outline. It’s all in fun- the banter between John Deere and Claas (my dad wrote a few poems on this subject) or John Deere and Fendt tractors or John Deere and Case combines… but at the end of the day we go home completely satisfied with our continued #deereseason. In short, we run Deere equipment and are living happily ever after. More of a lengthy discussion would be that most of our cart tractors are open station tractors (without cabs) meaning that we eat dust and bake in the sunshine and live happily ever after- rocking that farmer’s tan.

This week we had a fairly lengthy road haul from the field to the farm, and we had 3 Shen Valley outfits on the job. The one cart operator had to leave, so my dad looked at me “Ken, go run that JCB”

Wait, what?!

One of the other guys gave me a quick run down of the tractor and with a “you’re going to end up writing a blog about this” he left me to my own devices.

What happened next is the shocking part: I had a blast. We flew down the road over 40 mph.

The sun shone in the cab and I turned up the AC. The sun set and I turned up the heat. Music kept me company. The gravel road dirt hung in the air and hit my windshield and I cleaned it off with Windex.

“Cabs are certainly unnecessary” I told myself as I reached into the fridge to retrieve my cold drink.

“Still not necessary” I told myself as I followed the cutter around the field and the silage rained down on the top of the hood, and I stayed perfectly clean.

But who am I kidding? I smiled so much that my face hurt.

As I tore along in my little yellow JCB sunbeam, I was just reminded again to make my words sweet.

Because sometimes when you’re super opinionated and vocal about it- those words return to haunt you.

But it’s ok- as long as I’m traveling down the road 40+ mph- maybe they won’t catch up with me.

If this is life on the edge- I think it agrees with me 🤷🏻‍♀️😂😂

Grinny Kenny