Wheat Harvest*

As you can probably tell by the asterisk in the title, "Wheat Harvest" isn't an actual town. Nonetheless, it was a significant enough part of our trip that I had to post about it.

Everywhere we went this weekend, we saw combines and grain trucks. They were out in the fields before dawn broke, and their headlights lit up the amber fields long after the sun's retreat behind the western horizon.

Harvest is when communities come alive. Men and women of all ages pull together to bring the crops in. Towns shift their whole lifestyle to accommodate these hard-working folks. In one small community, we saw a Senior Center that had been converted into a diner for the week. The town's senior citizens served hearty breakfasts, lunches, and late dinners to farmhands.Harvest is when Kansans shine in self-sacrifice and dedication. They know what has to be done, and they accomplish it, gladly relying on support from their friends and neighbors in the process. Harvest is when dreams and plans come to fruition -- quite literally.

In good years, harvest is a time of quiet triumph, of validation, of hopes for the future. In bad years, it can be a time of despair, doubt, and hard decisions about whether to go on. In any sort of year, though, it's a reminder of who Kansans are and what's important to us.