Five Days as a Farmhand: Thoughts and Stories from a City-Kid on the Dusty Plain

Part 5 of 5 - "Early Morning Rain, Bad Coffee and the Drive Home"

A majestic Prairie sunrise before rain settles in.

I was advised the previous evening that I would need to get up early to help my dad load the seeder one last time before I left to go back to the city. 5 AM came swiftly after effortlessly falling asleep the night before, and I put on my clothes, shoes and hat and walked out into the cold morning air. We were fortunate to have good weather all week, but the forecast called for rain on Friday and Mother Nature did not disappoint. 

My Father and Grandfather asked my for my help to complete a few tasks before I left back for the city. I loaded up the truck with 15 bags of canola, drove them to the other side of the yard and helped to fill up the air seeder before my Father went out into the field to try and get some seeding done before the rain settled in. I loaded up the truck one final time and Grandpa drove into the yard shortly after. I helped him grease the equipment as more grey clouds rolled in. 

After everything was completed, I went back into the farm house and made my Dad some sandwiches for lunch. The rain started to fall, and remembering that the big trucks, sheds and quonset were still open I grabbed my coat and ran outside. I quickly pulled the tarp over the canola in the big blue truck, shut the heavy steel doors of the quonset and ensured that there were no tools or items that would be damaged by the rain in front of the shed. The transformation did not take long, all of 15 minutes, for the yard that was previously scattered with equipment to be packed away and ready to wait out the storm.

I ran back to the house in the rain and changed out of my wet and grungy farm clothes into my city uniform. I loaded up my Geo with the few possessions I had brought with me, the empty leftover containers to bring back to my Mother and all of my vintage finds from the night before. It was time to head back to civilization.

 "The Journey"

I set out from the farm on the same road that I arrived on at about 7:30 AM. It boggled my mind to think that I had already been working for two and a half hours, and cursed my lack of sleep as the rain repeatedly hit my windshield. I chose not to eat breakfast and opted to grab breakfast on the road at A&W. Food seemed like an afterthought compared to what I was really looking forward - COFFEE. I hadn't touched the stuff since my drive out, and I was sure that a steaming hot cup of black gold would keep me energized and occupied during the drive.

Turning off of the grid road on the the main highway, the rain intensified and I cranked my windshield wiper power as high as it would go. I was cruising along thinking about coffee when a duck flew directly into my passenger side window. As in I didn't hit it, it actually expelled energy to fly into my car. My shock quickly turned to sadness, as I felt pity for the poor animal which surely must have either perished or was severely injured from the impact (the dude hit my window pretty damn hard). That sadness was shortlived, as I logically concluded that the duck wouldn't have hit my window had it been more intelligent. Natural selection so-to-speak. The situation reminded me of Louis CK's deer comedy sketch where a deer runs into his car, which I spent the next 30 minutes of my drive reciting and chuckling about.

The rest of the drive to Fort Qu'Appelle was uneventful and I ordered a Bacon N' Egger, hashbrown and a medium coffee from the A&W drivethru. I demolished the food, and got back on the highway to Regina. I took my first sip, and felt my heart sink. This was not coffee. This was dishwater that was cleverly packaged, advertised and distributed under the same name. I kept sipping the disgusting coffee as I drove, thinking that maybe it would get better if I gave it another taste. It never did.

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I approached the Prairie oasis of Regina from the East, and I began reflecting on the week, as I often do. This outing was different. I could sense the change that was to come, as one can feel the air change on a hot summer day before a violent thunderstorm settles in for the evening. I felt rejuvinated after the week of hard work and reflection, and recalled that I had arrived with a particularily troubled mind on Monday. The time in the country had been good for me. 

For my Father, his impending retirement is a reward for decades of hard work and sacrifice. He would miss many of my concerts, my sister' vocal recitals and my brother's soccer games because he would be busy in the field. Summer vacations were few and far between, as that was when work needed to be completed to ensure plentiful yields and healthy crops. We often talk about the future, and he looks forward to buying a fishing boat, taking golfing lessons and being able to go on summer outings with the family which he rightfully deserves. My father's retirement represents a drastic change in our family's lifestyle. The days of spending hours in the sweaty grain truck during harvest are almost gone, where the satisfaction of collecting the crop that is the byproduct of months of hard work is realized. My Grandfather will no longer spend his hours tinkering with machinery and repairing equipment in the yard. I will no longer have a summer employment opportunity if I find myself without a summer job (as was the case this year). The way our family will change, mostly for the better, but it will be still be different and take time to adjust to.

Our farm is one example of the many family farms that have been passed down for generations only to be swallowed up by bigger farms. This is the way of the West, the way of the World. There is no room for small family owned operations. What was once a way of life for the people of the Prairies is now viewed as a business or a commodity to large operations and foreign investors.

I finished my last moments of reflective thinking as i navigated the final few blocks of suburbs and pulled into our driveway in Northwest Regina at around 10:00 AM. I had a snack, took a shower and went to bed. It had been a long week of work, and it felt great to be back in my own bed.