Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Damien Vaucelle from La Chapelle-pres-Sees, France (in Normandy, just north of Alençon) arrived here late Sunday night.   His first trip to our farm was as a student in the year 2000.  He returned for some harvest experience with us in October 2010.  During that visit, we worked only in corn.  Since then, he has married Gaelle, and has a daughter Juliette, 3 years old.  He works in construction and is currently helping build the earthen grade for a new high-speed train line between Paris and Rennes.  He also works for two brothers who are farmers living nearby.  Damien loves their John Deere equipment.  He has come back to Indiana to experience our soybean harvest here, and to operate some bigger JDs.

We were able to cut some soybeans on Monday, and Damien had an opportunity to drive the S680 combine.  But rain on Tuesday stopped the combines, and we are preparing to change back to harvest corn for this afternoon.  It appears that we will perhaps move back to soybeans on Friday or Saturday, depending on the sunshine we receive!  We are hoping for the sunshine so that Damien can have a full soybean harvest experience.

John and Damien

John explains some of the operation of the grain system to Damien

Damien is pleased to operate the JD S680 combine, harvesting soybeans on Monday.

Damien will work alongside us until he departs for home on Friday, the 9th of October.  His pleasant personality and quick-witted humor make it a joy to share these days with him.

Welcome, Damien!