I got to do some father-daughter bonding last night.

In my part of the country, we plant a lot of sugar beets. Most of the nations sugar comes from my area. The farmers that plant beets generally have big dollar operations, and sometimes they lose money on their crops as our weather has been so poor over the last few years.

Anyhow, it's just something that I've grown up with. It's really a Rube Goldberg type of operation with all the machinery, and the sound of sugar beet trucks is what welcomes fall around here.

First they plant the beets in the spring of course. The beet seed looks like blue Nerds candy. There are all different kinds of beet seed for different soil types and moisture conditions. We're right by the river, so things vary a bit. Sugar beets look like huge radishes, generally a couple of pounds apiece. They're white on the inside when the topper cuts them up. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First, the beet topper beats the leavy tops off and slices the first few inches off the top of the beets. It's a huge machine that is dragged behind a rather large tractor. This is what my Dad is helping our famer-neighbor with this year. After the topper has processed the beet tops, the lifter comes through dragged by another large tractor, lifts the beets out of the soil and puts them into a waiting truck. Yes, a large truck of course. Not a semi, but maybe like a militaryesque five ton. My Uncle is driving one of these this year.

Then all the beets that are topped and lifted and put into the truck are brought to a local beet dump that runs 24/7. The farmers are on a schedule also. Our neighbor is on the 2 AM to 2 PM schedule this year. Last year he was 2 PM to 2 AM. They all alternate. These beet dumps are immense, and from there, the sugar company (American Crystal Sugar, if you've ever heard of it) takes from the beet dump and trucks them into town to the processing plant. The farmers trucks are weighed and they are paid by the ton per acre. The plant has storage large enough for many semis to turn around in.

So this is part of where I'm from. Our soil is black like the soil that you would buy at Home Depot or another gardening center. It's amazing. Soft with the right mixture of sand and clay. It shifts a lot so that our house is basically on silly putty, but it's what we have.

I rode with my Dad for about half an hour last night. It's peaceful. Just up and down the rows, back and forth.

Farming is more complicated than I thought, but there's a peace to it also. And lots of hard work.

Just wanted to share that. :) It's part of what I grew up with. The brisk fall air, the sound of the beet trucks lumbering by on the highway, and the sound of machinery running at all hours of the night.

It wouldn't be fall without it. :)

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