Sights, Sounds and Smells

First published in Ponca City Monthly, June 2021.

To Oklahoma farmers, June means one thing: harvest. Wheat harvest, to be specific.

I grew up on a small farm just north of Lamont. Since I was old enough to "tag-along" with my father or grandfather, I participated in many wheat harvests over the years as their sidekick. I started out just riding in the combine. Some days I brought a pillow and a blanket, and I would crawl up on the small loft behind the driver's seat, which was just barely big enough for a 4-year-old to curl up in. I would lay on my back and drift to sleep as the combine swayed, back and forth… each massive tire creeping one at a time over rows and ruts of dirt hardened by the Oklahoma sun.

A combine is a beautiful orchestration of many sounds, all repeating in a sacred symphony: the "sick sick sick" of the sickle, the roar of the diesel engine, the swish of the wheat stalks as they enter the header, and the intermittent buzz of the hydraulics as the driver adjusts the header constantly.

My favorite sound was the grain auger. After a big swath of wheat had been cut, and your bin was packed to the top with wheat seed, you would turn out of the uncut field, shut down the non-vital machinery operations, and head towards the truck. When the auger had been strategically placed over the wheat truck, it was time to unload. I would pull the lever that extended the auger, and I would pull up the handle that released the wheat. After the handle was pulled, the auger would groan to life and begin to "chunk chunk chunk" as the precious golden cargo was dumped. It swirled out of the end of the auger in a steady solid pulsing stream.

With an empty bin, we'd head back to cut another section and repeat that until the field was done. "Auger Operator" was my first official job at the age of 4, and I took great pride in it. As a teenager and into my twenties, I became a combine driver myself for a summer job. My children, just as I did with my father, curled up in the same spot I had as a child.

I am so thankful to have been able to share those special June memories and experiences with my children. I hope as you celebrate and make your own special memories this June, you will remember to slow down and take in all the sights, sounds, and smells all around you — so that years from now, you can remember those wonderful memories in vivid detail.