Oakesdale area harvest bee cuts 500 acres

Neighborly Bee

A harvest bee for Jerry Smart and family of Oakesdale Wednesday, Aug. 31, cut approximately 550 acres of wheat off two fields located along the Hume Road south of Oakesdale.

The bee included at least 25 combines for the two sites.

Cutting at one field concluded about 1 p.m.

and cutting at the northern field continued until about 5 p.m.

The bee drew harvest crews from all over the area with a contingent of Tekoa harvesters rolling south in an early morning convoy.

The Tekoa group was assigned to the northern field for the operation.

Combines pulled into a hilltop portrait (top) after finishing work on the field on the south end.

Colfax pilot Bill Myers caught a view of the machines lined up and getting the job finished.

Approximately 150 harvesters and support crews stopped in for lunch and visiting at an outdoor barbecue site set up by Longhorn Barbecue at Bromling Grass Flat which was located between the two harvest sites.

Jerry Smart, who has been hospitalized at Sacred Heart since he was injured in a lift truck accident Aug. 15, is now out of ICU. His wife, Jeanene Smart, said they were looking forward to a possible move late last week from Sacred Heart to St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Center in Spokane.

She pointed out neighbors and friends answered the call from bee organizers right in the middle of the time bind brought on this year by a late harvest.