The memories came flooding back when we started talking about our beet hauling days while playing the a card game recently with friends ~ the Kaufmans and the Rahmigs.
It was funny how us three women unanimously agreed we should have driven for each other’s husbands and not our own. There would not have been nearly as much hostility! During beet harvest husbands yell a lot at their wives, trying to get them to move the truck closer or back or forward or wherever they want us to be to get the perfect load without spills.
We women tried so hard and sacrificed a lot to be out in those trucks from pre dawn till after dark day after day during beet harvest. That’s what farm wives did for years, so when Tim and I got married, it was a natural assumption that I would learn to drive a beet truck. I did just that from 1971 through beet harvest 1985 – till we left the farm and moved to town.
Since that time, beet harvest has transitioned from small little farm trucks to big semi and trailer trucks. The farm wife has also transitioned from working on the farm to working in town because of the need to supplement the farm income. Consequently, there are very few farm wives driving beet harvest trucks today. Oh, there are some, but few.
Anyway, back to my beet harvest days, we would be in the trucks like at 7 am or earlier, with our lunch packed, coffee and rolls packed, kids bundled up to ride along. Grandma Stricker would watch the babies until they were old enough to ride along. Then the kids would spend all day long in the truck with me.
Back and forth to the beet dump. Once at the dump, our trucks would often be one of many in a long wait line, as the process to dump was rather slow and truck line would get long. Us farm wives would jump out of the trucks and congregate along the line, chat, share stories, and describe the yelling antics of our husbands. Even then we said we should drive for someone other than our own husbands!
The kids for the most part seemed to enjoy riding in the truck. Sometimes they would ride in the tractor with Tim. Usually they would nap in the truck. Once in school, they would come out and ride for a couple hours after school and on weekends. Sometimes, they would just go to Grandmas. In the earlier years of my truck driving, I think we actually stopped for lunch and went to Grandma’s house where she had dinner on the table. A quick lunch break and then back to the truck till 6:00 p.m. when the dumps closed down. Sometimes we would load one more time and park the load overnight, ready to go to the dump first thing in the morning.
Anyway, just talking about those days with friends brought back memories that had long been buried. The farm and family scene has changed dramatically since my harvest days experience. Farming is no longer a “way of life”, but rather a “business” today. Beet harvest continues today, but like everything else, it has all changed through the years.
Beet harvest was certainly an eventful experience. I’m glad I had the opportunity to be part of it for a period of time.
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