Amanda Buus Thomsen – BT Harvesting
Wow! It doesn’t seem like the start of a new season is just around the corner…but it is! Since the end of last season, I have been doing what every harvest wife loves to do…paperwork. Insurance, work comp, applications, and last but not least – taxes. To break up the monotony of it, I decided to go with Anders on what would end up being a very memorable trip in the semi.
On Tuesday morning, we received a phone call and were asked if we would haul a load of hay out to Ashland, Kansas to help those affected by the wildfires. We left and headed west…toward the smoke-filled sky.
I knew we were heading out to an area of devastation, but it’s hard to be fully prepared to see it. I had witnessed the effects of last year’s Anderson Creek wildfire, but this one was different.
I saw the rubble of what used to be a house. A house where a family once gathered around the dining room table and where kids once played, but was now reduced to just the shell of a washing machine. A little farther down the road, a stove stood among the charred remains of what was a home. About 200 yards from the remains of the house were a few cows that stood by what was left of a smoldering barn. Cows that were missing some hair. Cows that no longer had anything to eat because their bales of feed and grass in the pasture had all burned.
On the way to our drop off point, there were homes that had been destroyed, homes that were being sprayed with water in an attempt to save and homes that were spared by the flames. Thousands of bales of hay and feed that farmers and ranchers had so diligently saved were now nothing more than a smoldering, smoky heap that would burn for days. Fencing in some areas no longer existed.
The worst part wasn’t seeing the burned houses, ground, hay or fences. All those things can be replaced. It was seeing the dead cattle laying in the pastures and ditches, and the ranchers that were unable to save them. Those are images that will live with me forever.
Donate if you can. Donate what you can. These people aren’t looking for a hand-out…they’re looking for a hand-up. Good, hard-working people who have suffered one of the greatest losses and just need a little help getting back on their feet so they can come back stronger than ever.