“Mommy! Mommy! I see dust!”
I hope you read that in the cutest little 2-year-old farm boy voice because that’s exactly how I heard it coming from the back seat of my dirty Tahoe every day on the way home this fall.
The magnitude of dust this year wasn’t pleasant for farmers, but for our son, it initiated the highest level of excitement because he knew he was about to see farm equipment in action.
It was followed by an abundance of questions: What is that tractor hauling? What is that combine harvesting? Why is there a header trailer sitting there? Why are those trucks going slow?
When we got home, he immediately looked for ways to get in on the action. If someone was in a field nearby, he asked to ride along, or at the very least watch from the driveway.
If there was no action, he created his own, rushing to grab the nearest John Deere toy or dollar store semi, complete with his own engine noises. I don’t know how he still has a voice because even after tucking him in for the night, I hear him shifting gears in his tractor themed bed until he drifts off to sleep.
And while most kids would grab a stuffie to snuggle with, he proudly attaches the header to his silage chopper and parks...