Friday, June 26, 2009

Harvest on the Prairie



Harvest time has arrived on the prairie. Fields everywhere are dotted with combines and elevators have long lines of trucks waiting to unload.

One of the differences here on the prairie, as opposed to the farming I was familiar with in the south, is that here the evening meal is carried out to the field. When I was growing up, generally the big meal was at noon and workers came to the house to eat and rest a bit. Here the farm wives, or others, will take food out to the fields so the workers stop only briefly. It's just a different way of doing things.

I have always wanted to participate in this ritual, just because it's different than what I am used to. However, as much as I hate "the toting" when I'm doing any food related event, I doubt I'd want to make a lifestyle of it. Maybe I could just send some baked goods out to the field with someone. That seems a bit more my speed after all.



There is something satisfying about this time of year in Kansas. The seasons and crops seem to cross here, leaving strips of dried prairie grass, bright green, and recently cut golden in the fields. It's like an abstract painting and part of me desperately wants to see what happens when I drag a paint brush from top to bottom, mixing and marbling the colors. What color blue would I get from that green and yellow?

I'm enjoying the new job. It's a fun job when your email can include things like going to a meeting about a new exhibit. I don't seem to mind meetings now.

Of course, the 40th anniversary of the Apollo mission where man walked on the moon for the first time is July 20. So, today we were looking at some materials they used in an exhibit 10 years ago and deciding what to do for this anniversary. I asked if I could take a photo to share because I think it's just so cool looking to see historic images spread out like that.



It's fun to have such things as part of the work day. Next week I'll be posting more about this on their blog but I didn't have time to work with the photos during the work day today so am just now getting to look at them. Very cool. Very fun.

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