Combine

Hopper

Belts and gears

Doug and John checking out the cylinder

Controls

Navigation station

Today was my introduction to the John Deere 105 combine.  John and Doug repaired and spruced up elements of the combine as I read the operation manual.  I felt pretty useless, but I gained a basic understanding of the different parts by the end of the day.  John gave me a tour from the head that takes in the grains, the cylinder that threshes (separates grains from head), the wind tunnel that shoots out the chaff, and the hopper that holds the harvested grain. 

When we left the field, I fathomed the scale of my ignorance about the mechanical harvesting side of farming.  John has a lot of experience and I'm excited to learn from him.  At some point during lunch he said that he doesn't know the definition of a 'neo-con'.  I could have chimed in, but I felt that whatever I'd learn from him would be far more useful than what I could tell him about neo-cons, neo-liberals, and governance.