I have been working on a Minnesota sugar beet farm for nearly two weeks. Why am I here? Well, it all worked out with my schedule, work and God's timing to travel east to work for my buddy Mark, a farmer. It is harvest time in Minnesota's farm country! In many ways, this visit is very connected to my bike trip across America. (Ahhhh ... my personal adventure story seems to go on and on long after the final day of riding.)

I have been working daily shifts from 2 a.m. to 2 p.m. There are thousands of acres of sugar beets, soy beans and corn to be harvested, but I have mostly worked with the sugar beets. The adjacent photo is the tractor I have been driving throughout much of the time. It is formally called a rotary beater, but it is more commonly termed a "roto-beater" or "topper" for short. It is fairly easy work, but the most difficult aspect is waking up regularly at 1:30 a.m. to start my work day. I want to apologize to all of you who have received phone calls and text messages at insane times like 2:45 a.m. or 4:10 a.m to see if you were awake! What can I say? It gets lonesome riding in tractor under the stars for hours before the sun rises. :p)

Because I will be returning to Colorado soon, I knew it was finally time to take some pictures. My body has been taxed physically most days and I have not been in the mood to even think about pulling out my digital camera on many occasions. I did my best to explain the basic process of harvesting sugar beets next to my pictures below.

Lastly, enjoy the You Tube video clip of me driving the tractor and conversing with Ross, a local farmer I worked with.

-Steve

	Sugar beets growing below the ground with a green leafy end above. They grow similarly to carrots and radishes. Adjacent are two photos of one respective sugar beet and a cluster of sugar beets.
	Me standing next to my tractor. I know, I know, I am way too sexy for this tractor! :)
	A shot of the gears and acceleration controls inside my tractor.
	I drive the "topper" over the sugar beets. Most of the time, there is no need to steer because the tractor goes in a straight line along the grooved lines of the sugar beets.
	Behind me, the red mechanism knocks off the green leaves from the sugar beets ...
	... The tops of the sugar beets remain exposed and ready to be lifted up. The top photo is a close up of three sugar beets in a line. The second photo contrasts the sugar beets with and without their leafage. Two Bottom Photos: These show what a sugar beet looks like. (Photos both taken last year when I visited Mark in 2007.) The inside of a sugar beet has a white pulp texture. If you stick your tongue to one, you will likely taste something very sweet ... like sugar. Sugar beets, along with sugar cane (grown in tropical areas), are the two plants that provide sugar for human consumption. Below are my pages related to Minnesota and the area: Minnesota Farm (November 2007) Minnesota High Point Roger Maris Museum (Fargo, ND)
	I have spent a plethora of hours on this tractor in the past two weeks. On two occasions, a rabbit was shocked and distressed over the fact that I was slowly but surely chopping up its home. During the second incident, I managed to take some pictures. This particular rabbit (top) was really frightened and undoubtedly would have been pummeled if it did not get out of the way. The rabbit ran into another sugar beet field that would be safe for another day or two.
	A previous day, an amazing sunrise made much of the horizon various shades of bright pink out that way. I did not have my camera with me, and so I was forced to take it all in with my eyes and memory. It was a pretty one! This photo holds the view and was taken for my memory's sake.
	Coming behind me was Joel driving another tractor. (Joel often worked the same 2 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift with me.) His tractor pulled a "lifter" - a machine that extracts the leafless sugar beets from the ground.
	There are usually at least two large dump trucks running around the clock during sugar beet harvest time. Trucks ride along the lifter and accept the spilling sugar beets into its large box. On one particular run, I ran out toward the lifter and truck to photograph them working together. The truckers transport the sugar beets to a local sugar beet plant near Moorhead, MN. With all the acreage Mark farms on, it requires seven to ten full 24 hour periods to harvest all of his sugar beets. And remember, this is just Mark's sugar beets. He also harvests soy beans and corn during the autumn months.
	Two photos of the huge trucks. These trucks, holding all those sugar beets, usually weigh approximately 60,000 to 65,000 pounds each. That is about 30 tons per truck load! Yikes ... talk about overweightness!
	A nice photo of Ross standing next to a huge John Deere 9300 tractor. (Ross is included in the video clip below.)
	Special thanks to Mark (right) for giving me such a great work/getaway experience in Minnesota. Mark held up an unusually large sugar beet that is being used as an ornament at the entrance of his home. That sugar beet is so large that it reminds me of the matzo ball soup that looked like a baby's head! :p)