October 1, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

First Time at the Beet Harvest – Day 1

Friday, September 30, 2016

We were given our assignments first thing in the morning and were on Piler #2 with Marie, Marvin, and Robert. Lee was assigned to be the operator and the rest of us were helpers. Since the area around our piler (Piler #2) was still a muddy mess, they put us on Piler #3 with a very experienced team who had done the harvest several years in a row. They were super helpful and around 11 the foreman was comfortable enough with us that we were able to open one of the two lanes of our piler. The whole team seriously did great. We communicated well, helped each other, and were really having a good time. The weather was also great, in the 60’s, and overcast with the occasional sun breaks. We even had a rainbow or two. The work is also not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. There are places and times between trucks to sit down, and you are encouraged to do so during any down time, or when a big truck is dumping its beets, or if there’s a large enough gap between trucks. Our vehicle was close by so we could get water and snacks whenever we needed to, and the port-a-john was very close and at least for now extremely clean. Yes, the work is dirty, but it’s clean farm dirt, and their processes were excellent. As someone who studies processes and efficiency professionally, I do not say that lightly.

Lee, me, Marvin, and Marie first thing in the morning Day 1

Robert and Marie – Day 1

Our piler #2

This is a piler

Around hour 9 though (3pm) we all started to get a little tired and by hour 10 it was getting a little tough. Marie had a step counter watch and by 3pm she wa at 8,000 which was pretty good. She said most days she had to got to some effort to get to 6,000. Around 4:30pm, I went to take a beet sample, and picked up the sack wrong and felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder muscle. I let my team know and they were great. I wanted to finish the day so I just asked the others to take the sample and focused on tasks I could do mostly one-handed. I told Bill my foreman (who is absolutely awesome by the way) about it right away and he said I could stop and fill out an incident report, but I really wanted to wait. It actually started to feel a little better, but at 6pm when we were relieved I went and filled one out. All I can say was it was 100 times better than I thought it would be. Yes the weather was great, and yes, it was day 1, but I kind of liked it. I will say though that I am not a huge fan of wearing a hard hat 🙂 – Trace

We all enjoyed the rainbow

Trace wanted me to explain how I got to be an operator. It’s not really that complicated, first they ask everyone if they’ve ever had any experience doing it, and then they ask if anyone would like to be considered for training if an opportunity comes up. I had been up in the cockpit of one of the pilers when we did our orientation, and it looked less complicated than a 10 input video switcher, so I figured I could learn it pretty quick. Besides, it’s beets, not rocket surgery. So when they asked for volunteers to be trained I raised my hand, assuming that after a few days they would put me next to an operator to observe and get trained. The next day we came in and they had posted the list of crews, and it was me as the operator, and Trace and three other new people as ground crew. But the guy that taught me did a great job, and it’s really not that different from directing live television, but with more dirt and less bitching from audio engineers.

The pay is $1 more per hour, which is not a ton, but it adds up, especially when 4 hours of each 12 hour day is OT, and all 12 hours on Saturday and Sunday are OT. Plus there’s a 5% bonus at the end of the harvest, so that’s also pretty cool. I’ve worked less for more money, and harder for less money, but it’s still a blast. Today one side (lane) of our piler was not used because it was too muddy, so I’ll be very curious to see what it’s like operating both sides instead of just one. I really think it will be a little easier, because once you get into a rhythm it’s easier for me to stay focused non-stop and go back and forth between the two lanes than constantly be stopping and resting every five minutes. Sort of how like driving interstate is less tiring than stop and go city traffic. We’ll see. I identified some likely places to mount a Go Pro and I’m figuring out when and where I can grab footage here and there over the next few days so I can put together a short video that shows the entire process of bringing a truck through. Because that’s what we do. Over and over and over and over. 800 trucks in each 12 hour shift, on 6 pilers. I have to say it was really a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to doing it again tomorrow. Sorry this little blurb wasn’t all that funny, but I’m really tired, and really hungry, and besides, beets aren’t all that funny either. Beets are serious bidnizz, ya’ll. – Lee

In the meantime here’s some pictures of the process – Trace

Truck drives up

Beets come out of the truck into a hopper

These are the beets

Marvin directs the drivers to pour their beets into the hoppers.

When there is an issue we can get s spill. Thankfully that doesn't happen often becaus we have to pick up the beets by hand and some are the size of a football

When there is an issue we can get s spill. Thankfully that doesn’t happen often because we have to pick up the beets by hand and some are the size of a football and pretty heavy

If it’s a bad spill we call over a bobcat to clean them up. We only had to do this a couple of times and usually it was something wrong with the truck that caused it

The beets go from the hopper to the conveyor belt

Where the dirt comes out and goes into the empty truck

The dirt comes out the side and goes into the empty truck which we help back into place

Out the boom which rotates slowly left to right then back

The beets (sans dirt) go out the boom and onto the pile. The boom rotates slowly left to right then back

Our pile was super pretty! As helpers we raise the boom periodically to get the top as even as we can

Lee operates the boom and the hoppers that the trucks put them in

Lee’s controls. He can’t see the entire pile so we are his eyes on the ground.

Our pile was almost 18 feet tall by the end of the day!! When it gets that high we move the piler backwards a few feet, but we haven’t done that yet

So all in all good day with a great team. It’s Day 1 but feeling good so far.

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September 29, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

First Time at the Beet Harvest – Soft Open

Monday, September 26, 2016

After a terrific day in the National Park on Sunday, we woke up and got ready for our on site orientation. This time we called the number and it affirmed our orientation did start today. We arrived early and people were milling about so we just sort of followed the crowd. We filled out our time card and clocked in. Next we got our PPE equipment (personal safety equipment). They issued us two pairs of gloves (light pair and bright orange heavier pair), a hard hat, ear plugs, safety glasses (either clear or light shaded ), and a bright orange vest. We also signed for our personal lock and key. The lock is a pretty heavy-duty one and is used for all “lock out” procedures. It’s actually a really good system. If the piler needs moved or worked on then every person on the crew locks the electrical box. One by one the locks are removed and after every single person involved is aware of the machine’s power status can it be turned back on. Brilliant really, and a great example of “poke-oke” or idiot proofing a process. Seriously this machinery is no joke and this would stop someone from turning it on while other people are in harm’s way.

Then several foremen and the agriculturist at Sugar Valley spoke to us a group. They were a group of smart 20 somethings who seemed to have their act together. They explained that because the fields had receive 2-1/2 inches of rain in the last few days they would need to perform what they called a “soft opening.” We would get paid 4 hours for orientation (it lasted less than an hour), we could paint tomorrow for pay if we wanted to but it was optional, and then Thursday they thought the ground would be dry enough to start working. Once we started working and they could assess, people would find out what their jobs would be. Everything went really well during the entire meeting, my only disappointment was we still did not know what shift we were going to be on. Once again we were asked to fill out a sheet with our preference and were told we should find out Thursday. Again, switching your sleep patterns is a big deal and the more time for people to do that the better, but they seemed to be keeping their options open. One thing I did hear from the crowd (not the bosses) was that if you had a dog you were supposed to get day shift. Part of the deal here is people get their dogs walked at least once a day by the camphost and apparently this year 23 couples have dogs. If it is true dog owners get day shift, that could put us at a serious disadvantage. But again all speculation.

I was pleased to see that there was a break room facility and it had free water and coffee. There was also a refrigerator and two microwaves and several porta-johns at the location. They said we would be able to park down near our pilers once worked started, and we would get one 1/2 hour and two 15 minute paid breaks in a 12 hour period. Unfortunately the break room is located pretty far from the pilers, but the foremen said they would give folks rides back and forth. About half of the group was new to the beet harvest and it was a mix of both young and old. Most importantly everyone seemed very friendly and the folks who had done it before were very encouraging. It is a very interesting group of many different types of people, and to illustrate that let me tell you about two couples we spent some time talking to today.

One couple Judy and Jim (68 and 71) are retired and this is their first time here. What was interesting about them though is they aren’t full timers. They own a lake house in Pennsylvania and spend the summers golfing, but snowbird to Arizona in the winter. Jim wanted to try work kamping, mainly because they like to keep busy, and talked Judy into the Beet Harvest. I was totally blown away by this. There are so many things you could do to keep busy in retirement and this seems an extreme choice. But they are looking forward to the challenge and both seemed really excited to be there. I thought they were both great, but I told them I think they are a little nuts 🙂

Another couple we met was Jen and Kyle. They are 26 and 29 and recently became full-time RVers. They were living in Georgia and she was teaching and he was working, but when they decided to start a family they realized they didn’t want to raise kids there. But neither was sure where they wanted to, so the sold all their stuff, are renting their house out, and went on the road to travel and see the country before deciding where to settle and start a family. Very interesting approach and smart in my opinion. They have both spent a lot of time researching areas, but they understand actually living in a place is very different. They have put themselves in a place where they think they can live on $15K -$20K a year and are working the beet harvest for an infusion of cash. Plus everywhere they go and work they are simultaneously checking out the area. Kyle wants a job “working with his hands” and the opportunities for him in both opportunity and pay vary significantly in different parts of the country. They are particularly interested in exploring the middle of the country and plan on making a route through that area next.

Two completely different scenarios, but both couples were smart, funny, and wondering as I was exactly what we have gotten ourselves into. Everyone did seem relieved though after orientation, because they made it clear it wasn’t going to be nonstop hard labor. We are going to paint tomorrow, so maybe we will meet some more folks. – Tracy

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

We showed up bright and early for painting on Tuesday, but so many people showed up they split us into two groups. The returning folks painted and us newbies got a tour of the pilers and learned about their operation. Bill trained our group and did a terrific job. Things made a lot more sense when we were standing next to the machine and we got to ask a lot of questions. We also saw firsthand why were weren’t working. Everyone had at least 4 inches of mud on their boots in no time and although it was fine were walking around and learning, I wouldn’t want to be slogging through it on twelve-hour shifts. Plus our trucks and cars almost got stuck driving back there. No way the dump trucks could make it.

We learned for a couple of hours , but they paid us for 4. We were also told we would be paid 4 hours “stay pay” for Wednesday and Thursday (don’t have to work but get paid anyways) and would probably have a 4 hour shift on Friday with actual beets. We also learned we would be on days which made me feel much better. The young kids that were working were all taking the night shift. They wanted to work nights and we wanted days, so that worked out great. I talked to a couple of them and most knew each other from the railroads. Apparently many of them travel on rail cars (think riding the rails in the 1930’s and run into each other frequently in their vagabond lifestyle. The money they earn at the beet harvest will last them several months and they spend the rest of the year traveling and working only when they have to. It’s interesting that I had no idea this was happening. The kids are all intelligent and friendly, but definitely living a counter-culture lifestyle. I never would have been able to color that far outside the lines at their age. One of the guys has two kids though so he is taking a more traditional track now. He lives and works in Detroit most of the year, but still comes to the beet harvest to catch up with his friends. Some of these guys have been doing this for 10 years and seem perfectly content. – Tracy

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Last night Jen and Kyle came by and we invited them into our rig. We talked for several hours and discovered we had a bunch in common, age difference aside. That’s one of the coolest things about the lifestyle, in my opinion. Full timers are brought together by this shared experience and often that transcends other factors like age, religion, and politics. As Lee often says, no matter what we all have to dump our poop and that brings people together! The next day we spent some time talking to our kids and then went over and visited Jen and Kyles rig. They bought a 24 ft used travel trailer and have done an amazing job with it. Not only did they remodel it using inexpensive materials, but they have also taken advantage of every inch of space. We got some ideas from them, the marine fans over the bed were brilliant for example, and again had a wonderful time getting to know each other. With some couples you just click, and that’s how it was with them. The conversation just flowed. We are the first full timers they have really gotten to spend time with and they are the first really young couple we have spent any time with.

The rest of the day was spent watching TV and trying new recipes. The latter has been a mixed bag. Lee and I finally landed on a great beef stew recipe, but the other recipes not so great. I made chicken and mushroom stew (mediocre), homemade mac and cheese (inedible) and macaroni salad (not bad but needs tweaking). My criteria for this recipes has always been pretty high. Mostly they need to have minimal commonly found ingredients, be relatively simple to make with RV appliances, and taste very good. Not that easy. After much trial and error I have enlisted my new son-in-law to be Jeremy to help. Jeremy is a great cook, so I gave him my criteria and we will see what he can come up with. I did feel better, when he said he would need to think about it because of the strict criteria. It’s not just me being too picky then. – Tracy

Thursday, September 28, 2016

I woke up at 4am this morning and stayed up because I think I am close to adjusting to my new shift time. Even though it’s more waiting, I don’t mind so much now that we are getting paid. We are making $106 gross a day for staying here and since we aren’t spending money and have a free campsite, that’s ok for now. We are definitely working 4 hours Friday and then our first 12 hour shift on Saturday, but according to the rain forecast then it is supposed to rain again for 4 days. Not sure how that will play out. I imagine that we will work in the rain until the field gets so muddy we can’t but the weather is playing a much bigger factor than I thought it would. I will say again the campground isn’t the greatest. We have never been able to get the wifi to work, although others have had some success, and there really isn’t anything to do in the immediate area. Well there are a bunch of little casinos. but in the interest of budget we haven’t been in one and don’t plan on it.

Jen and Kyle also treated us to Pizza Hut lunch buffet today. There was a time not that long ago when I would never have let someone younger than me pay for my lunch, but those days are gone lol. I did double-check that their budget could handle it, but I would have done that with anyone. And since I really love Pizza Hut and our food budget is already over for the month, I gladly accepted.

We had a great lunch and as we were walking back to our RV’s someone walked up and told us tomorrow was going to be a full day and 6am start. We understand that things change and very quickly, but this particular start time has changed three different times in two days. Still they did a good job of getting the word out and we are as ready as we will ever be. With the rain forecasted for early next week I am sure they are trying to get in as much harvest as they can. Since we aren’t actually going to do a soft open now, I will end this post here. The next batch will be actual beet harvest reports finally, which I am sure is what everyone is waiting to hear about 🙂 I’m a little nervous but no where near as much as I was early on. Will see how it goes!
– Tracy

September 25, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

First Time at the Beet Harvest -Waiting

Thursday, September 22, 2016

We were scheduled for an orientation at the piler site at 9am on Thursday and we were both eager to get more information on what we were going to be doing, and possibly more importantly, when we would be doing it. The shifts are 6-6, and we knew as new people there was a good chance we would be on the night shift. We did get to put our preference for days on our paperwork during our meeting Tuesday so we were holding out some hope for day shift, but also wanted the time to adjust to nights before actually starting work.

So we got up, got dressed, and sat and waited until 8:20am when we wanted to leave. We were told the job site was around 20 minutes away across the MT-ND border, but we wanted extra time just in case. It ended up taking us about 30 minutes and we really weren’t sure we were at the right job site because no one was there, and there was no signage. We decided to call the phone number we were given, and yes, there was a message saying it was too wet to have the training and it was moved to Monday. Now just to be clear, we were specifically told we needed to call the hotline number every day to see if the job site was open, and shame on us for not doing that. It just never occurred to either of us that that would apply to training. (As a side note, I found a voice mail on my phone from our coordinators Steve and Karen stating orientation would be moved. It was nice that they called, I just totally missed it.)

It makes sense though. The piler site we will be working, Sugar Valley, is just a huge field and has 6 pilers on it, and a couple of very small check-in buildings. Otherwise it was a large field of dirt, well mud because of the rain. We also felt OK about our trial run driving there. It’s mostly 2 lane county road, with a speed limit of 65, but at the very end, right before the piler site is a little town with quite a few traffic lights and a speed limit of 25. That adds almost ten minutes to the drive. But, we got a feel about how long it would take to get out the door and to the job site, but needless to say we were not thrilled about waiting another 4 days to find out what our jobs would be, and what shift we would be working. We also would lose any opportunity to adjust our sleep patterns ahead of time if we were on nights. It also occurred to us that this was what we had read folks complaining about. Once we officially start we will be compensated 4 hours per day straight time when called off, but the time lost prior to the job start was on us. Mostly I am fine with it, but I did leave Alaska a little early to get here on time and theoretically I could have stayed there and made money these days I am waiting. Again, I’m not completely upset about it because at least we have a free place to stay, but the time lost should definitely be taken into consideration. We will see how that plays out over time.

I decided to take the time and run a couple of errands. I got a really great haircut and eyebrow wax at Planet Hair and Salon on Main St and then went to the Good Cents consignment store and got 4 flannel shirts. They didn’t have a great selection in clothes in my size, but they did have some boots there. (Everything we’ve heard is that our clothes will get completely destroyed working at the piler site, so we’re trying to pick up a little here and there that we can just throw out when we’re done.) Not that I needed them, but thought it was worth mentioning and the people in both the hair salon and consignment shop were super nice. I was worried folks would have an edge because we were just there for the harvest, but even when they found out they were super nice. Carol, who cut my hair, said her husband usually worked in the oil fields but he loved taking a break from that and driving for the beet harvest. It was a good break from what he normally did. I also hit the motherlode in used cookbooks at the consignment shop and went a little crazy. I have been seeing the same stuff over and over, but this store had two shelves full of titles I had never seen, and many of my favorites which are locally produced fundraiser cookbooks. I was super excited and the ladies that worked there got a kick out of it. The rest of the day we just watched TV and did other domestic stuff. -Tracy

Friday, September 23, 2016

Justin and Trisha stopped by last night and invited us to a group potluck here at the campground. They are a very nice couple in their 30’s and this is their third year doing the beet harvest. We particularly wanted to meet them because they worked at Amazon with our friends Bill and Kelly and actually worked at the same campground in Alaska as B/K last year. Sometimes it’s a small community. Trisha said they keep coming back to the beet harvest because “they love it” which was really good to hear and this year they are working nights for the first time because Justin was selected to be a foreman. Unfortunately they are at a different job site than us, but it was nice getting to meet them. I guess you really bond with the small group that works your shift and specific piler and I am really looking forward to that. I asked for any advice and was told wear layers (Trisha said on some days she went from warm coat to T-Shirt in the course of a day) and they also talked about how they took a crockpot to the their piler and the group had hot food throughout the day. I also heard at the hair dresser yesterday that day shift in Sugar Valley has a food truck with a different home cooked meal every day and for $10 you can get a complete meal that’s really good. Not that we would want to spend that money everyday, but it’s nice to know there are options. Twelve hours is a long time and a little hot food would probably go a long way. They stated their first year they waited 5 days and then worked 21 days straight and last year they got called off almost every third day for rain. Since the fields are a muddy mess when it rains, Trisha said we wouldn’t want to work in it anyways.

My body seems to be settling back into eastern time. I woke up yesterday at 3am MT and this morning at 4am MT. That bodes well if we get on days, but is going to be a complete pain to adjust if we get on nights. It’s also been raining on and off for the last couple of days and we are starting to get a little pool in the campground in front of our rig. So far it is sloped below us, but we are keeping an eye on it. Since Lee can’t work on the RV outside, he’s getting a little stir crazy, but today he’s got some errands to run that will take him out of the rig. As I have mentioned before it’s a small space when you are “cooped up” together and that, coupled with some low level anxiety about what the job will be like, is making us extra cautious to be nice to each other. Today I am going to work some more on Photoshop training so I can make some more progress on my recipe book. Oh and on a side note, we received our first package from the post office and they wouldn’t drop it off at the campground. We got a slip in our box and had to go to the post office and pick the package up. I went and talked to Kim the campground manager about it and she said she would come down in the evening if we got a slip and we could sign it and she would pick up the package for us which was really nice. Oh and the high school football stadium was close by and the place was rocking on Friday night. We could hear the band playing Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” from our site which was kind of fun. If it wasn’t raining I might have gone to see the game, but not worth getting wet for. -Tracy

Saturday, September 24, 2016

This is a lot of time to kill and with the constant rain not much to do. Our spot has pretty poor drainage and we are practically surrounded by water at this point. I need to use my new boots to take the trash out (they work great), but other than that we are just staying inside. This is the most unusual gathering of RVers I have ever experienced. Get a bunch of full timers together and it usually is very social, but as far as I can tell not here. There are no campfire rings, for one thing, and certainly the rain isn’t helping, but the vibe is really that of a work camp versus a campground. From what I can gather you really only see the people you work directly with once this gets started, so folks don’t take the time to get too friendly. It’s very different than Amazon for example, where people in the campground really bonded together. That’s not a bad thing in our case, because honestly I am not feeling very social. Normally, I would be running around gathering information but in this case I really don’t want to know. Without knowing my shift and specific job all I can learn is how to withstand the elements, and I don’t really think anyone can teach me that. I’m either going to be able to handle it or I wont. On the plus side it is not nearly as cold as I thought it would be. When the wind isn’t blowing it’s actually very pleasant and I think I could stand outside in this. The problem of course is it won’t always be like that and add in the extra factors of 12 hours on your feet (which I haven’t done since I was in my early 20’s) and possibly night shift (which I haven’t worked since I was 30) and it’s all a little nerve wracking. So thinking about all that doesn’t make the waiting easier, and mainly we are just trying to push it aside and get through the day without running out and spending a lot of money. For those who have had children it’s not unlike the ninth month of your first pregnancy. You know labor is coming, and you know it’s not going to be pretty, but you are committed so you are just waiting it out.

We have passed the time by errands, computer stuff, and binge watching Walking Dead from episode one. One good thing about Walking Dead is it helps put things in perspective. Feeling a little sorry for yourself, watch a show about the zombie apocalypse to realize it could always be worse. Plus I can half pay attention and go through my new recipe books at the same time. I am also excited about the potluck, not only to meet some people, but also to try out new recipes for the Potluck section of the cookbook I am working on. One of the things that is slowing me down a little is the need to buy the ingredients for some of these recipes. I can absorb them into the regular budget if I try a few a week, but every meal can’t be something new. Well, it could be, as wonderful as Lee is about being my taste tester, but sometimes you just want to eat something tried and true. Anyways, the potluck gives me an excuse to both try new things and cook in scale. Potluck recipes need to readily scale up or down and with a smaller oven and limited pans that’s not always possible in an RV. Anyways, it’s harder to fill the time than I thought it would be, mainly because of the rain and desire to not spend money. We could shop or eat out of course, but sitting here not making money and then on top of that spending additional money seems like a losing proposition. Our default free things to do just aren’t available because of the conditions and location. As Lee would say we are doing a whole lot of nothing, which isn’t our favorite thing under the best of circumstances.

Sunday, September 25, 2016

It rained from 8am – 2am yesterday. And not just rain, but lots of wind, so we couldn’t even keep the awning out. As smokers we do have to go outside occasionally, and it was wholly unpleasant. I did try a couple of new recipes, but neither really made the cut and the whole day just dragged on. This morning though the skies were completely clear and for the first time in days we could see the sun. The wind was blowing and cold, but the forecast called for 65 degrees. So instead of going to the potluck we are getting out and visiting the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I really want to attend the potluck and meet some other people, but we just can’t pass up the opportunity to get out of here for awhile.

That decision for me is very different than one I would have made in the past, but in my current state of mind it it was an easy decision. The forecast calls for at least 10 days of clear weather, so once we start working we won’t be stopping anytime soon. Nature helps ground me and reminds me of why we are doing this, so an infusion of that prior to starting something very hard is always a good thing.

We know we may not start tomorrow. It is unclear if the field will be dry enough and for some reason lyrics from a Garth Brooks song “American Honky Tonk Bar Association” keep going through my head. “If your paycheck depends on the weather or the clock.” the song says, and although I have certainly punched a clock in my life I have never had a job where my paycheck depended on the weather. It truly is a whole different mindset and one we are getting a little taste of. The stakes are much higher for the farmers of course. The beet harvest is a $5 Billion (yes billion with a B) industry and what most of these farmers live on for the whole year. So as hard as this is for us, they have much more at stake. Of course they also have much more experience dealing with the variability of Mother Nature than we do. Objectively, it’s interesting. Subjectively, it’s pretty darn annoying.

Camper Chronicles

Travel Tales from Working Full Time RVers

Sidney Beet Harvest

First Time at the Beet Harvest – Day 1

First Time at the Beet Harvest – Soft Open

First Time at the Beet Harvest -Waiting