Parting Shot: Harvest time
Noah Beach, 12, rides in the bed of a wheat truck as the sun sets, heading to pick up another load of grain cut by his grandfather Dick Schu and uncle Ryan Schu on Monday night near Oakesdale, Wash. The Schu family grows wheat on 1,500 acres. Tyler Tjomsland, SR, photo
OAKESDALE, Wash. – Dick Schu’s weathered hands grip the controls of his combine, his left on the wheel and his right clutching the gearshift as he slowly descends a hill on his Whitman County farmland.
Farther up the hill, his son Ryan drives another harvester. The header is spinning a bit low as dust kicks up from underneath.
“Looks like I did a little excavating there,” Ryan’s voice crackles over the CB radio.
Dick Schu smiles. He has been harvesting the undulating golden hills of the Palouse since the 1960s.
Have you ever worked a harvest?
