Yay, it's harvest time!

I got off the combine long enough to take the above photo this past Thursday evening while harvesting camelina. If there was a soundtrack to this site, it seems to me right now it should consist of some real country music, acoustic guitar and fiddles played by people who aren't necessarily beautiful (although that doesn't hurt!), but who have been there and done that.

It certainly strikes a chord, a deep major one for me at least. No minor diminished 7th's, not in this case. And I think it had that effect on some other people, who were also living the moment.

In profound ironies, a custom cutting crew had also just pulled in on the neighboring Running Elk Ranch, with four big new John Deere combines (at nearly $300,000 apiece), several big tandem trucks and a whole crew of people, to cut not really all that much winter wheat. I don't know the acreage, but am guessing less than half a section (320 acres).

And there I was, by myself, cutting this oddball alternative oilseed crop with the World's Finest $1000 Combine and a '52 Ford F5 truck that my Dad bought in '53.

Except I think the custom cutting crew was into what I was doing, and I'm pretty damn sure that's not just wishful thinking...

Every time one of their trucks went by, they gave a big wave. Not just your normal raised finger or two, we've talking a wave!! And just after I'd taken the above photo, another of their trucks went by, and the driver gave a big blast on his horn! It was mental high-fives, I tell ya...

There was definitely a connection, of that I have no doubt. I was struck by the difference today, while I was making some fence repairs along that same field. A few vehicles went by, and while the occupants of about half of them smile and wave, the others are doing the "urban oblivious" thing, where they just stare at the road.

I know, in an urban environment you just can't (and likely wouldn't want to) make that split-second eye contact with everyone you encounter. Impossible...

But we're not in the city out here. And so it always strikes me as profoundly strange when people have their blinders on that tight! In fact in my opinion, that's seriously messed up on some level. My son Cody is often driving haying equipment all around the valley this time of year, and he says you can tell people that are from Montana, because they look at you. I know, a gross generalization, and I also know plenty of non-natives who connect, so I'll broaden the criteria to say it's people who are part of the community, tuned into their environment and the other creatures inhabiting it, that make that split-second connection (and often way more than that...). The others are missing something, something really fundamental in my opinion. Somehow, they're just not part of the Matrix...

In any case, we're pleased with the camelina harvest, in spite of the combine breaking down Friday afternoon, "luckily" when I was almost through. I wasn't all that psyched to crawl deep into its bowels in 90 degree temperatures, and had some things to finish up for the Saturday Farmer's Market so said "to heck with it". For the moment, anyway, I'll get it fixed <knock wood...>, and besides, it's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow, so...

Speaking of interactions, though, the Farmer's Market provides opportunity for that, to fatiguing levels. I'm not complaining, far from it. In fact we were pleased as punch with the results from Saturday. Our camelina oil labeling is finally getting there, and Saturday our oil sales were about four times "normal", so there's something to be said for getting the professional graphic art treatment. And perhaps it makes no difference, but IMO it certainly doesn't hurt that the artist, Brian Murphy grew up on a sheep ranch in northeast Montana, and understands these sorts of connections...

Fortunately, the internet also provides a venue for these sorts of interactions that exceed the actual face-to-face possiblities to mind-boggling levels. In fact in recent days I've really been struck by a few exchanges. Particularly one on the New West Network, about the recent killing of a "problem" grizzly and one of her cubs in Glacier Park.

As is often the case, the comments might be more interesting than the article itself, in fact in that case they nearly turn into a novella of their own. And yes, the comments can turn fractious, and occasionally offensive, but the internet is a great equalizer, and the cream generally rises, in my opinion. In fact in that case, as my own comment probably indicates (I'm Bill O'Connell, aka Rimrock incidentally) my point of view mostly meshes with those of people like Robert Hoskins, Bob Jackson, and Ann Stovall, among numerous others.

They most definitely did not arrive at their opinons via viewpoints espoused on the toob, but rather through (often solitary, and extensive) experience interacting with nature. They've definitely been there, done that... And, I find it quite striking that while collectively and individually tough as nails, their viewpoints are remarkably tolerant, and wholly devoid of this mindset that humans can somehow "control" nature.

Plus they're not afraid to make eye contact!! hahahaha

<I've met both Roberts, and look forward to meeting Ann someday. I have met some of her relatives, long-time residents, and have not the slightest doubt she's for real, to say the least.>