Spud Harvest Break

Every year in St Anthony, the schools observe what is called at Spud Harvest Break. For two weeks the whole town is “working potatoes”. Young and old come together in the harvesting of all the potatoes. Some drive tractors, others trucks, then there are those who sort the potatoes once they have been dug up. It is quite the process! Someone Will’s age can make up to $400 while someone Jansen’s age can make up too $2000 in just 2 weeks! The hours worked are long and crazy. To give you an idea, the football team practices at midnight during the break!

So when Carlie said all she wanted for her birthday was chocolate and to go home to Hamilton….it was a no brainer! We loaded the car and took the 4 hour trip to Montana. Our timing could not have been better! Jansen arranged it so he could run at the Daly Mansion Cross Country Meet with his friends. After a good night’s rest at Grandma’s we all headed to the meet.

As we drove down the Daly Mansion lane, fall colors were bursting everywhere against the beautiful lining of a blue sky. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day in our beloved Bitterroot Valley! As I drove into the parking lot, I got super excited as I realized I knew about every other person I saw! Oh happy day…I was home! We got to visit with tons of people throughout the day. Some were people we never would have got to see otherwise so it was awesome! Jansen ran a great race and set a new PR of 20:02. He was trying to break 20 and almost did it. He was frustrated his friends were faster than him but he enjoyed being at the meet. Some people didn’t even recognize him because he was wearing South Fremont’s colors red and black.

Even Will got in the action when he was asked to run with the Piney XC team. He got a team shirt and everything. I was really worried about him running since he has never trained and hasn’t really been active since moving to Idaho. But Will was a trooper! He came in dead last but I was a proud mama simply because he finished! He was just happy to be running with his cousins.