Neighbors help Honns harvest

An impressive collection of farm implements was outdone only by the collection of friends and neighbors that helped the Honn family harvest its fields over the weekend.

"It blows my mind," said Floyd Honn. "I can’t tell you how much it meant to have that kind of help."

Nearly 1,000 acres of Honn ground had been planted on the family’s ranch last fall by Lyle Honn, Floyd and Bertie Honns son who had farmed the family land for the past several years.

Lyle Honn died Dec. 7 following an accident in his shop. He was 55.

To help the family harvest its grain, long-time friends brought in eleven combines Friday night.

"Oh, the tears just came rolling down my face. I couldn’t hardly see," Bertie Honn said of seeing the combines roll onto their place on the west side of Rock Creek between Winona and Benge.

John Schlomer brought six combines from Endicott to cut one field. Rich, Kevin and Randy Repp of the St. John area brought out three combines to help put the crop in the bin. Al Jones of Benge brought his combine. Dwight and Duane Blankenship of Washtucna brought out their bankout wagons to trail the combines. The Baileys of St. John brought out trucks and drivers to haul the grain.

"Well, Lyle would have been the first one out here for any of us," said Schlomer.

"They’re a very, very nice family. They’re just such sincere people; I’m glad we were all able to help them out a little," said Randy Repp.

Crews were set to begin early Saturday, but a 4 a.m. thunderstorm brought a burst of rain that delayed the cutting.

"Thank God for Ritzville Warehouse," said Repp. "That was the great thing. They let us bring it in maybe a little more wet than they should have."

The crop was in three fields. First to tear full-on into action Saturday were four Honn combines, three of which had been used by Lyle and one from his brother, Bruce.

Honn family crews manned those combines and the trucks that hauled to the Ritzville Warehouse elevator at Benge.

Once the other fields dried out, the harvest bee went into full swing.

The Repps were able to knock out their field before sundown Saturday, calming some of the Honn concerns about keeping the crews going too long.

"We were fueling up Sunday morning to head home," said Repp. "Floyd came out and told us Sunday was the first time he had slept past five in weeks."

Schlomers had to come back to the bigger field near the Honn house to finish Sunday, but got all the grain cut and in a bin.

Pitching in to feed the hungry crews were a number of families and grain companies from the greater area. All gathered down the road at Daryl and Kathy Storment’s house for the feast.