MARENGO, Sask. – His cancer came back for a second year, but despite knowing it would be a challenging season, grain farmers Joanne and Dean Anderson of Marengo were up for the fight and chose to seed their 1,600 acres.
They didn’t know it yet, but their neighbours were already planning to lighten the couple’s load.
In June, the first notices appeared in the local grain elevators and by July 15 a plan to take off the Anderson’s crop was in place, a plan that didn’t include the couple or their combine.
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What the plan did include were 10 combines, 21 trucks, two semi tractor-trailer units, augers, tractors, fuel and water tankers, 50 people and all the beef, chicken and cold beverages necessary for a long, hot harvest day.
Aided by local sponsors, neighbour Murray Faubert set about the task of organizing the new-style threshing bee.
Trucks rotated counter clockwise around a 10 kilometre circuit, combines were broken into three unit groups, teams probed the loads as they came into the yard and directed them to the appropriate bin, where they were guided back to the auger.
Dean and Joanne toured the operation in the middle of the afternoon to say thank you. Dean was all smiles, despite his gaunt appearance worn thin by his current 11 sessions of chemotherapy.
“The farmers here today don’t want any recognition,” said Pat Gerein, Joanne’s brother.
“No names, nothing, except maybe the same back if it was them. They don’t want anybody to recognize anything but what a great community this is. In this day and age, who would figure you can still count on your neighbours to give up a day at harvest time?”
Eleven hours after it began, 1,300 acres were harvested, all the crop that was ready. As clouds obscured the sun, 10 combines launched into the last 45 acres of durum.
After two hours of mixed cloud, the sun broke through at the horizon and a rain shower fell on the machines, still glowing in the evening sunset.
As if by magic, a double rainbow appeared over a hilltop, where 50 people gathered to watch the last field harvested for a friend.
