Misener Family Harvesters

Today we welcome Emma of Misener Family Harvesters! This family follows the harvest from the Texas/Oklahoma border all the way to the North Dakota/Canadian border!

I woke up this morning in my smaller-than-average sized bed, to the wonderful sound of rain hitting the camper roof. Although it was a day of taking it easy, there are always those few things that can’t get themselves done. The trucks need to be dumped at the elevator, fueling and servicing still needs attention. This may be a nothing-to-do sort of day, but trust me. This day is nothing like a typical day on harvest. My name is Emma Misener and I am a custom harvester. I work with Misener Family Harvesters, Elk City, Okla., where I work for my mother, Kristy and along-side my brother Dan.

In 1971, my father, Ron, started Misener Family Harvesters after serving as an Army Sergeant in the Vietnam War. A few years later he was hired by a neighbor who had just moved to the area. It was that job where he met the farmer’s daughter and the rest became history. Dad and Mom built a family and business, and both thrived. They began traveling south to the Texas/Oklahoma border with combines harvesting wheat from one farm to the next, working their way north to the North Dakota/Canadian border. Once wheat harvest came to a close, fall harvest began and they worked their way back home harvesting as they went. Their tradition still lives on today.

I was born on the harvest trail, raised on the harvest trail, and still live on the harvest trail. I remember taking along my crayons and paper in the combine, riding with mom while harvesting. By the time I reached 10 years old, I had already began to beg Dad to let me drive the big machines, and by then I’m sure he was ready to at least let me try. My first field of wheat I combined was 3.75 acres and I still remember what he said. “You’re doing an excellent job, but it looks like you’re chasing a snake!” I just smiled and said, “I promise I’ll learn to drive straighter. Will you please let me have my own combine?” I’ve been driving big green machines since.

As the business grew the family did, too. I am the youngest of six children. My older sisters Marie, Katie, and Elizabeth and my brother David, soon left and started families of their own. To help fill their void Dad and Mom decided to hire help. By the time I was 15 years old I was training hired men. When interviewing potential employees, one of the questions he asked them was, “can you listen to a 15 year old girl?” They always chuckled thinking he was joking, but Dad was very serious about it.

Two years ago in December, my Dad passed away. His love and passion for harvesting still lives on today in my Mom, my brother Dan and I. Mom, Dan, and I continue his legacy harvesting the trail where it all began. Mom still does the cooking and the business, with Dan and I helping her through it all. Although it is harder to go on without him, we still have the motivation he passed down to keep us all moving forward.

We are in blistery and rainy South Dakota finishing up our fall harvest, combining corn.

Our day begins at 7:30 a.m. with breakfast, followed by a trip to the elevator with trucks filled the previous night, and then head out to the field. Mom usually packs a lunch for us to take in the morning, and once in a while she will surprise us with hot lunch. We arrive at the field, fuel up the combine, and service it by greasing the proper places, checking the oil, and then do a ‘walk-around’ checking belts/chains or anything else that seems out of the ordinary. Then the fun part begins. Once we start harvesting corn we go until the elevator closes, and then fill everything one more time for a morning trip. Once the trucks are full we head home, clean up, eat supper, and get to bed. There isn’t much time for anything other than harvesting.

I love our way of life. I love the smell of the crops, the dust in the air, and the sense of accomplishment when a field is harvested. It makes me want to do it all over again. I’m getting the itch to get back home to warmer Oklahoma, but in two months I’ll be itching to get back on the road.

Our stops on the road become home. Every place is different and has its own unique beauty. The people we hire, the people we cut for, and fellow custom harvesters become family. Even the people at the grocery stores or gas stations say ‘Hey! When did y’all get back in town? We’ve missed you!’

It can be stressful and a lot of hard work, but I wouldn’t choose any other way of life. The U.S. Custom Harvesters, Inc., go by the motto ‘we harvest the crops that feed the world’. This sums it up. I’m proud to be a custom harvester. We really do feed the world.

(L to R) Me, my brother Dan, my Dad Ron, and my Mom Kristy. This was the last family photograph before my Dad passed away. We were at the John Deere Fall Festival in Waterloo, Iowa celebrating antique tractors. My Dad loved restoring the ‘Ol’ Girls’ and went to every antique show we could go to.

We load our semis and move to our first stop on the harvest run. Most of the time we haul the combines because our stops from farm to farm are far enough away, that it’s cost efficient to haul them.

Other times, our farmers are closer together so we drive the combines from one farm to the next. It just depends on how far our farmers are from each other.

Cutting wheat in Oklahoma! We make rounds all day long in a clockwise motion so that we can always unload on-the-go.

We unload each combine one by one, then dump the grain into the waiting semis, where they then take it to the elevator.

My Dad was a very patriotic man; something that he has definitely passed on to me and the rest of my family. Every year, we put new American flags flying from each of our machines.

Every day of my life is a blessing. I love what I do and wouldn’t change a minute of it!

Thank you Emma and the folks from All Aboard Harvest for this great feature!!! If you’d like to follow along with Misener Family Harvesters during our summer harvest - visit www.allaboardharvest.com, or our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MisenerFamilyHarvesters . You can reach Emma at emma@allaboardharvest.com.

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Weckerly Farms

Meet Tessa and Chad Weckerly members of a multi-generational grain farm located in central North Dakota! 

Ours is a multi-generational grain farm including my husband and I, my husband's grandparents, parents, and brother and sister-in-law. We are located in central North Dakota and grow a variety of crops in any given year, including wheat, barley, canola, soybeans, sunflowers, field peas and ever-increasingly, corn.

We define our mission as running an effective family business that sustains long term profitability and provides opportunities for current and future generations.

My husband's great-grandfather homesteaded and began ranching just south of where our current farm stands today. My grandfather-in-law and his brother farmed and ranched together and eventually divided their operation into separate entities. My father-in-law decided to make his career in the business, and he worked alongside his dad to grow their farm, elevator and trucking businesses. Both my husband and one of his brothers have returned home now to farm as well. You can read more about our farm's history on the Farm History page of our website.

Since we have so many family members working together on the farm, of course everyone fills a unique role from managing the shop and equipment to marketing the grain. Other duties include bookkeeping, business communications, yard and field maintenance, operating equipment and many more. Tasks vary depending upon the season. In the spring, the main focus is getting the crop in the ground in a timely manner. That includes coordinating planting equipment and tillage equipment if it is needed. In the summer, there is pest and weed management in the form of scouting and spraying crops to keep them healthy preserve yield. At this time, harvest equipment must also be readied. In late July, wheat and barley harvest begins. We have a crew of combine and grain cart operators and truck drivers.

There is usually someone working on repairs and maintenance to keep the equipment running smoothly or get things back in working order after a breakdown. That creates a demand for parts runners as well if we need to get a part from an implement dealer or someplace else in order to fix the machine. We also try to provide some hot meals out in the field because of the long hours harvest season demands. We usually wrap up fieldwork with corn harvest in November. Fall fertilizing must also be done at this time to ready the soil for next year's crop. The winter brings time to attend conferences like the state ND Farm Bureau convention and the Young Farmer & Rancher leadership conference or classes on things like drain tiling and other emerging techniques. There is a lot of time spent in the shop working on equipment and making sure everything will be ready to roll in the spring. Another year. Another crop.

We appreciate being able to raise our family in this environment. To work so closely with family can be a great asset or a great challenge and most of the time it's both. Above all, we love being able to start with something as little as the seeds we put in the ground and watch them grow into something that through our work and dedication provides sustenance to so many.

Our operation is really surrounded around providing a living for families - for our own and for those of the employees who choose to work for us.

A couple of the primary misconceptions about farming that concern us are that we don't take care of our land and that we don't try to cater to the consumer. The fact is that we are a multi-generational farm who is working together to provide the opportunity for future generations to follow in this operation and this industry. In order to do that we must make it a top priority to take care of our most valuable resource - our land. In order to continue to be profitable and provide a living for our families and those who work for us, we must also cater to the demand of our market, which is giving the consumer a healthy, reliable, and safe food source.

We started our Weckerly Farms blog as a way to communicate with our landlords and extended family who have an interest in what is happening on the farm. We want to reach out and show them what is going on throughout the year with our operation and with the land that we do our very best to tend to.

Thanks to the folks at Weckerly Farm for this great feature! To learn more and to watch their farming operation thru the seasons check out their blog Weckerly Blog and website - Weckerly Farms. 

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