2023 Beet Harvest !

September 22,2023

Good Morning !




Well here I am doing something that I said I'd not do again .....Same but not the same..ok..So this year we've decided that I would give it one more try, the harvest that is..with no one wanting to work or lack of peeps wanting to do this job that is needed throughout the country, SUGAR!! That's right the majority of the sugar comes from sugar beets that are grown in the United States!

This year though I've traded the ground work for transporting of the beets from the field to the factory or piler locations in a 18 wheeler, semi! So you say oh you have a CDL?? nope ...I've went through some trainning with the farm on the trucks they have....and it's kind of like pulling the 5th wheel rv but on steroids 😂.

I also found a farm whom was looking for drivers and called and got hired...so it should be a little different working for the actual farmer vs a employment agency.

So you ask..where are you living while doing this?? Great question ..the farmer built a campground about 20 minutes from the main farm with about 20-22 sites with full hook ups and they've put laundry and wifi in for all of us!! This is included with your pay at no cost to me.

Last week I was hauling corn all week which also included some of there fields in North Dakota..Hard to believe that one farm has so much land.

They also grow soy beans and sugar beets and I think wheat...HUGE...and very interesting how all this works..I've got a few picture which I'll include. We've got some down time this weekend due to the rain that is coming and that we've had Thursday a soft pre-harvest starts on Monday then the actual harvest starts on October 1!

I'll try to add stuff during the harvest but it might be later cause we work 12hr days...

So if you go over the picture there is a same description....Have a great weekend all!!

Lark

Sunday July 10 2022 NYG

 Good Morning !

Well many groups from all over the US arrived today in Houston to attend the National Youth Gathering “In All Things” .

Things went smooth for the most part checking in 18k young adult which some will still be checking in today.

Last night was the 1st mass event at the MMP park! Which proved to be interesting as the others in the past.All the participants were assigned seats this year which seemed to be a little better and there seats will rotate to a different location each night.As the last songs were being sung there was a complete fireworks show inside MMP which the roof does roll open and has real grass!!

Needless to say it was an interesting night from long lines for return shuttles and running out of water at the mass event for the folks to fill their water bottles 😱. Not sure that I personally like this venue ..A 33ox bottle of water is seven dollars and a foot long hot dog is about eleven dollars..oh my ! Not sure this is a normal thing I haven’t been to a ball park in years 🤷🏻‍♂️..

All the kids are doing good and look healthy! MAy you all have a blessed day 

In HIs Grip

Lark

NYG 2022 day 2 of training..

 Good evening to you all!!

Things are starting to shape up in here Houston as we all prepare for the NYG 22 as being trained will be a whole event process!! 

The kids are starting to arrive by droves…..Yavs are arriving in fields of orange to assist with the youth gathering as well.Another day of heavy training tomorrow and the event base goes live all day. 

Heavy rain here tonight with a taste of Houston burgers at the Rustic ! Was not to bad as usual I do like to try the local food if time permits especially before all the kids arrive 😜.

Got to see some friends from the gathering who I haven’t seen in awhile and found out today I had to say good by to a great friend as well today who went home to heaven.RIP John

Tomorrow starts off with a 5:30am wake up call to be in place by 6:45am ..should be an interesting day. The crews today got all the back packs packed today and all piled up waiting for the youth to arrive and registration to open..Thanks to all that were involved in this!

So till tomorrow my friends have a great night!

In His Grip 

Lark

Travel day !!

 Today starts the 1st day of serving in Houston Texas for the National Youth Gathering for the both of  us! 

Terry will be doing many things as she is a multi tasker while I’ll be in event base this year . Hopefully I’ll have time to update how the gathering is going and will post links for the gathering itself. 

https://lcmsgathering.com/

Have a great Wednesday !

In His Grip

Lark

Final Day !

 Good Day to all!

The harvest is finally done!! Last day was a cleaning day and the employment place paid all of us time an a half for this!! Such a great feeling to be done ,needless to say it was such a different experience this year from last.

The success on the harvest really depends on not just you but also the crew that you work with.The difference between the night crew and day crew should be seamless but it is not.The yard supervisors (night & Day)should have the same goal, but it appears they do not.

When we are trained in the beginning the way they want you to do something one way but each person's perseption is different and each person's work ethic differs as well. And this is one reason that I will not be back to the beet harvest in the future.I personally take pride in anything I work at and for some folks not to care, at all is unacceptable. Also there really is no incentive for exsperienced workampers to return year after year it pays the same amount of money each year. 

Would I recommend anyone to give it a whirl an try it ? Yes I would it can be a great time and does fall back on your crew your with for the harvest.It also depends on your foreman for the year, ours was FANTASTIC this year and last year.So unless the employment agency an crystal sugar come up with a different pay plan or other incentives I will not be making the trip in 2022.

The last few days of the harvest went well once the folks who didn't want to work quit and we had a strong crew of 5 plus our awesome foreman to take us to the finish line! It was slow the last few days which was a kind relief to our bodies. 

The day crew apparently is responsible for cleaning of the pilers at the end of harvest for your location and the night crew is not invited to get extra cash..another issue created by crystal sugar ,they could at least invite the night crew and they can decline if they wish with no repercussions.

This year the harvest really lasted 9 days of continuous work and we were on location for 5 weeks! YIKES that's the way it roll's sure glad we had what they call "stay pay" that is we get paid 4 hrs for any day we don't work due the weather related situations. Its time an a half for weekends, An I must say if it wasn't for this I would of left. This also includes the cost of your camp site as long as it takes to get the harvest done which can add up to quite a few dollars.

Till next time be safe and enjoy the ride 

In His Grip 

Lark

 

Almost There!

 Greetings from the Northern Tundra of Casselton ND!

Today marks another 12 hour day done! We are hearing word that this Saturday or Sunday our location harvest will be complete. It’s been a crazy past few days with very chilly weather and lows of 28º ..Brrrrrr to soon.

We’ve had soy beans and mud jam our hopper on the piles note the pictures….

Cant find the soy beans but it shut us done for about 2 1/2 hours….then we had to climb in the hoppers and clean…

The wind has finally settled down and today was sunny and cool ..but good!

Terry has been doing great and sticking it out what a trooper!

We are both looking very forward to being done and heading back to southern Wisconsin !!

You all have a great night!

In His Grip 

Lark 

Day 13 ….Rain Delay

 Good morning from ND!

Well yesterday was our 2nd day of a full shift and it proved to be an interesting day.Clearly it is much different from last year where everything ran perfect! 

It was a beautiful fall day here in ND around 63º and plenty of sunshine and a great day to work outside harvesting beets.Things where going good till a truck came through and had soy beans under the beets and it wasn’t caught till it was to late. The beans where so heavy the stoped the machine from running which shut down the operation for roughly 3 hours till we all got it cleaned out.As you can see by the pictures we had to climb into the machine shovel out the soy beans then once that was clear the machine had to be moved back and all beans pick up.Slick they are on concreate…

So the forecast here after today looks pretty good so hopefully we can get r dun and be gone. But tomorrow maybe a rain day as well cause the fields will be to wet.

Till then 

In His Grip 

Lark