(Note from the Editor: Sodbuster is a local online magazine about a variety of topics. Emily Hoffman, a local author, is friends with the Swiers family and wrote about their harvesting adventures. Sodbuster itself is not a harvesting company nor are we consistently associated with harvesting crews. If you wish to contact a harvest crew in our area, please email payne@chase3000.com ) It is mid-July, and the burning western-Nebraska sun is blazing down. My shirt clings to my back as I breathe in muggy air. There has been an over-abundance of rain the past few days. "It’s been so humid today. We couldn’t start combining until about ten," says Pat, as she drives me out to the field where her family crew is located. When she says "about," it sounds like "aboot" because of her heavy Minnesota accent. John and Pat Swiers are custom-harvesters. Traveling the length of the United States each summer, they combine wheat first, then corn and sunflowers. They start in southern Oklahoma in early June. Then, they travel to Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and, finally, Minnesota. "The wheat ripens at different times," says Pat. That is how they are able to cut wheat from early June through the end of July. She continued, "We have regular stops now; but, when we started, we didn’t know anyone. We posted signs and drove country roads looking for jobs." During the summer, the family works together to get the crops harvested for many farmers in several states. Even the children are involved. The boys start running the combine at age 11. Because it requires a special driver's license, they can't drive the grain truck until they are 17 years old. Jacob, 14, is running a combine today. Justin, 17, is old enough this year to haul grain to the elevator. Two or three days a week, six-year-old Jared tags along to the field. When he's there, he helps to fuel and grease the machines. Jill, 12, helps clean the campers and get the evening meal ready for the field workers. She wanted to be out on the combine this year. Her mother, Pat, flashes a smile and laughs. "John said it was okay for her to go to the field, but I didn’t want her to. I need her help here." Justin, 17, checks to see if the
truck is ready to go.
This camper is "home" for the Swiers
during the summer. Jill is agreeable. "I enjoy cleaning out the camper and helping with the meals. It’s my thing I do to help." They leave their Ogema, Minnesota home after the children are out of school for the summer. Four combines, five trucks, a tractor, a grain cart, and two campers are taken. One camper is for the family, and one is for the four hired men. What is a typical day like? They are up early -- usually by 6:00 a.m. After that, the men pack their own lunches, and each fill a gallon of water to take along to the field. They start combining when the wheat is at the correct moisture level. Sometimes, when the dew is heavy on the wheat, they wait until early afternoon to cut. They run the combine until 6:00 p.m., when Jill and Pat take supper out to the field. After supper, the men work until dark.
What about those rainy days that are bound to come? If there has been several days of good harvesting weather, the rain is a nice break. The men fix machinery and catch up on sleep. Pat and Jill wash clothes and take a break. Day after day of rain can get long, though. There are movies to rent from the local store or board games and books. When asked what it was like to miss spending every summer at home, Jill said, "I don’t miss it because I’ve never known anything else. I’ve been going with my family all my life." The Swiers family started custom-harvesting 12 years ago, when Jill was a baby. In the winter, John runs a logging business in northern Minnesota. The children attend school, and Pat works at home. The family has friends in each state. "We mostly meet people at church," Pat explains. "We’ve met so many nice people." Not all custom-harvesters are family crews. They are the minority. Many crews are made up of single men that travel the states in the same manner as the Swiers. Traveling around the U.S. has been good for the kids. They have learned tolerance and patience. Pat explains, "I see the kids meet many different types of people. They don’t react with 'Oh, he’s strange.' Instead, it’s 'Oh, he does things different than I do.'" Jill nods in agreement. "They’ve learned that different isn’t bad. After you spend the summer in a trailer with four other people, you learn to get along. It’s brought our family closer together. We’ve all learned hard work and how to help each other." I already feel the sun burning my arms and forehead and have only been out in the wheat field a short time. I walk back to the pickup with Pat and Jill. They are heading back to their trailer. I turn and look back at the field. I watch the four combines move out of sight as they hurry to finish this field before the next rain.
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