Finally done

We finally got done today about 3:15! I was so ready for harvest to be over with..now I can get to work doing all the other stuff I need to have done in the next couple months!

I bet that is a huge relief! I'll probably never look at a potato in the same way again knowing how much work the harvest is.

It was much easier to work on the harvester when I was younger..the older I get however, the harder it is. I can still do everything I could before when I was younger, it just hurts more lol.

I hate farm work. You're a braver woman than I. Did you at least make good money?

I guess I don't really know what it takes to harvest potatoes, Kelly... I thought you just drove a machine up and down the field, but perhaps not... maybe I'll think twice compaining about the price of a 5# bag of potatoes in teh future... glad you're done... now you can get back to painting and all those other things you had on your to-do list!

Basically for those of you who don't know what a harvester workers job is this is what it consists of. You have to stand about 8 feet up on a machine moving down the field standing between two moving belts. One belt behind you is a belt that mostly rocks come up on, but randomly you get potatoes on it because the machine doesn't seperate them 100%. You have to pick whatever potatoes off that belt and put them on the belt in front of you that goes up and into a potato truck driving under the boom and next to the harvester. That belt in front of you has mostly potatoes and you have to pick off any rocks, dirt, mud clumps, tops, sod, and rotten potatoes from it. We are digging up about 10 rows at a time because we have a seperate machine that digs up rows of potatoes and puts them in the middle of other rows. So for the most part about 70% that comes up on the potato belt is potatoes the other 30% is all the other crap I mentioned above. But there are many spots in the fields where you get up to 40% rocks, mud clumps or rot and you have to pick your ass off. You have to be watching both sides and picking from both. The biggest issue other than getting in crappy parts of the field is that you are on a moving hunk of machinery that was not built for the people standing on it, it was built to efficiently dig potatoes. Anytime you hit a bump or stop or start suddenly your legs, stomach etc are gouged by metal causing bruises, you are standing in one spot all day for days that average about 10 hours (minus 1 hour for lunch) You are out in the weather, cold, wind, etc. You can get seriously maimed or hurt my many things on the machine, but the most common thing is getting your fingers pinched. The belts are made of metal bars looped to each other on the ends. This way there is about 1 1/2 inches between each bar so that loose dirt can fall through. If you are grabbing for rocks you can get your fingers stuck on the sides of the belt between those bars and the metal sides..that happens quite often.
You also have to keep an eye out if any of the belts on either side of you or the ones coming up underneath you or in front of or behind you stop, you have to yell for the person driving the tractor to stop to figure out where it's hitched up or you can seriously break it. If you notice the amount of stuff coming up on the belt starts decreasing quite a bit, that means something is broken or not working correctly..or if you are getting quite a few potatoes coming up that are getting cut..that means something is off somewhere and needs to be adjusted..I could go on..there are a billion things to watch for. But after a while doing it, you get to learn how it feels, how things run, etc, so you pretty much know right off if something isn't right. It makes for very long, long days though...

Gosh Kelly that sounds horrible.. hopefully the pay was worth it... and for you, glad it's done with~

It isn't much money for the work, my hourly rate was $8.00 hr. However it was worth it to me, because I will be able to redecorate JJ's room,(he has a relatively small room) we are putting laminate flooring and repainting the walls, my sister is making a padded leather headboard and window cornice, I will need to buy new bedding and paint too. The guest bathroomwe are also doing (which is a tiny room)I already purchased with some of my money that I earned, a new vanity, sink, faucet, mirror, towel rack, tile flooring, and paint. I still have to buy a shower rod, shower curtain, some hand towels, a couple bath towels, and a couple small odds and ends. Tonight I just got done purchasing curtain panels to go with the new cornices my sister just got done making for me for my livingroom windows. So what I am going to accomplish with the money I made was worth my pain and suffering..lol

You sound like HGTV's Decorating on a Dime... love that channel!