After farming full time for more than 25 years, agriculture is something that is always in my blood. Although we still live on my grandfather's farm where I grew up and still have a few cows and critters to care for, my wife and I now rent out our farmland. In my opinion, we have the best of both worlds, getting to live and work on a farm without the day-to-day headaches of making ends meet solely from the farm. Because of this, I get asked quite often if I still miss farming.

CAB VIEW: Time spent in the combine cab during harvest season is good time to not only think about management decisions, but also reflect on the gifts of family, friends, and a safe and successful harvest.

The honest answer is, "Sometimes." I miss this time of year in particular. I miss combining corn on a clear, sunny day when my "experienced" combine was working perfectly and the corn was rumbling rapidly into the grain tank. I miss the days when my young children and their toy tractors were riding in the buddy seat with me in the cab. I miss the quiet times when my wife, Donna, would ride along with me.

I miss the days when the kids would watch the grain come into the grain tank and keep me notified when it was time to dump. I also miss the days when my dad, Harold, who passed away in 2010, was able to ride with me, and we could spend the day solving the world's problems together.

Late fall and early winter are times to cherish. Mostly, this is because the fruits of your labor all summer long are nearly in the bin. The treatments have all been made. Some of the grain most likely has already been priced. The only thing left to do is get it home in the bin safely.

Harvest time for me, like so many farmers today, often meant very late nights and early mornings. When I was alone in the field, it often meant walking a fair distance in the dark to find the trucks or wagons. Sometimes it meant jumping the creek and getting my feet wet to get to a vehicle to drive home. Sometimes it meant braving wind, rain, sleet and even snow to get the job done.

But all of that was good. At the time, I possibly didn't think so, but with a little reflection, it was a good time in my life that I do cherish as a great gift. I think those days in the cab were very personal in nature, giving me quality time with my children, my wife and my father, and giving me time to offer thanks for the bounty we enjoyed many of those harvest seasons.

What I don't miss about farming full time are the headaches when the combine showed its age and broke down. I don't miss being covered in hydraulic fluid, trying to repair a hose. I don't miss walking home to get tools because of dead batteries, broken parts and flat tires. I don't miss climbing up and down grain bins scores of times during the season.

Any job or career has rewards and benefits, and also things that we don't enjoy quite as much. For me, writing about farming is just as rewarding as farming itself. And, I generally don't have the concerns about expenses and repairs like I did for all those years. Still, if you ask me on a beautiful harvest day in October or early November if I miss farming, I would probably say, "Yes."