Harvesting bees are not new to the Prairies, but some are less happy than others.
A recent bee in Foam Lake, Sask., used all the modern conveniences of cellular phones and farm machinery, but it was held for an old-fashioned reason.
George Danyluk, who farmed near Foam Lake, approached his friend and neighbor Clayton Markusson at the end of August. Danyluk needed a favor. He had just been diagnosed with cancer and asked Markusson for help taking his crop off.
Markusson and his wife Marj had known George and Sonia Danyluk most of their lives. Clayton and George had gone to school together, and the families lived a couple of kilometres apart. When the call for help came, the Markussons sprung into action.
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Community participation
A harvesting bee was organized for Sept. 18, and friends and neighbors from throughout the area got involved.
“People had been calling George to offer help since they heard the news. We just got that list and started making phone calls,” Marj said.
“Before long, people had heard what was going on and started calling us.”
By the morning of the harvesting bee, 48 neighbors were involved. Joan Eyolfson Cadham, who knew some of the neighbors well, recorded the details for the local newspaper.
“Everyone was divided into teams,” Eyolfson Cadham said.
“There was one group who harvested the wheat, another group who did the canola, and a team in the yard that ran the augers as the grain trucks came in.”
The group ran 11 combines and six grain trucks, working furiously to get as much done as possible before impending rain.
“We had people running around with plates to take dinners out to the field,” Marj said.
“No one wanted to stop because the weather looked so bad.”
By the time the groups were forced to quit around 3 p.m., the group had harvested about 140 acres of wheat and 150 acres of canola. Other neighbors came into the field later in the week to finish what was left and take care of the oats, which had not been ready when the bee was held.
Sadly, George Danyluk was not able to see the kindness of his neighbors at work. He died Sept. 17, the night before the bee took place.
Markusson said she was overwhelmed at how fast the harvesting bee grew.
“We’re a very close-knit community. People are really great around here,” she said.
“Besides, George would have done the same for his friends.”
