Friends, neighbors and family harvested Danny "Buck" Pick's crop on Thursday. [Click to enlarge]

The survivor of a tractor accident a little more than a month ago, Buck (Danny) Pick wasn't in his combine yet, but the 26-year-old rural Merrill man was surrounded by 40 friends, family members and neighbors getting the job done.

It was a harvest bee Thursday, with Buck's supporters and their equipment volunteering Thursday to help finish 300 acres of corn still in his fields.

Danny "Buck" Pick, right, spent Thursday in the fields talking with friends, neighbors and family as they brought in the harvest at a combine bee held in Buck's honor. Buck survived a tractor-vs.-semi-trailer crash a month and a half ago and is on the road to recovery. Volunteers helped him and his dad finish their remaining 300 acres of corn [Click to enlarge]

"It's unbelievable," Buck said from the cab of a pickup parked in one of his fields. "When I was in the hospital, I didn't think I'd be home to see this."

On Oct. 7, Buck was hauling a load of soybeans to the Hinton elevator when he was struck from behind by a semi-trailer.

Buck was ejected from the tractor and received many injuries, the most severe to his legs. He was air flighted to Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City, then taken by plane to the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis for multiple surgeries. He lost his right leg at the knee.

Buck doesn't remember anything about the accident.

In fact, in the hospital, his family members had to tell him over and over that he'd been in an accident before he finally believed them.

"The last thing I remember was 3 miles before the accident," Buck said. "I remember waking up two days later after they induced a coma."

Even then, the next two weeks were a blur of pain medication and surgery.

Friends saved pictures of the accident, the mangled tractor, the tipped semi, but Buck doesn't want to see them yet.

Maybe he'll look at them when he's an old man, he said. He's heard enough about the accident scene to know the pictures are grisly.

"Someone was watching over me, maybe two people," he said.

His mom later agreed.

"Becca could have lost a husband. We could have lost a son," Mary Ann Pick said. "It really is a miracle."

Recovery has been long and painful, but Buck kept his spirits high.

"I had a lot of family there to keep me motivated," he said.

"We did a lot of praying together," his mom said. "We're so thankful for all the people praying for us. You could really feel the strength."

One of his cousins told Buck to remember the phrase "This too shall pass," when things got tough in the hospital.

"I've told myself that a million times," Buck said. "And I still say it."

Despite a setback in the hospital that meant another surgery, Buck kept his chin up.

"The doctors said, 'You got a lot of spunk in ya,'" Buck laughed.

On Nov. 7, his mom and sister Angie Schnepf, brought him home.

"My dad's birthday is Nov. 12," Buck said. "I made it home for my dad's birthday."

In the meantime, Buck's family has been helping out with chores and his cousin Ryan Pick, of Craig, has been in the fields for him.

"When I got in the accident, he took over my combining," Buck said. "And I do custom combining and he took care of that."

Buck and his dad, Dave, who also works full time, usually handle the harvest together.

With Buck in the hospital and his family visiting him, it was hard to find a way to bring in all the corn on time. But friends and neighbors found a way.

That's where Thursday's harvest bee started, according to Buck's brother-in-law Matt Schnepf.

"A dozen people called me and wanted to help," Schnepf said. "It went from a dozen to 45 pretty fast. Once one guy found out, he told the next guy, and he told the next guy..."

Schnepf, who farms in the Oyens area, also brought a grain cart and a couple of wagons to help out. Ryan Pick drove Buck's combine.

Neighbors and friends from all around started arriving at 8:30 a.m. with equipment ready to hit the fields.

There were eight or more combines, 14 semi-trailers, and several tractors and grain carts. Businesses donated rolls and meals.

What would have taken the Picks weeks took the eager harvesting crew only hours.

Neal Oetken, one of the Picks' neighbors, said his reason for coming to the bee was just to lend a helping hand.

"They're so willing to help me all the time," he said, taking a break from filling grain bins.

Buck admitted he'd woken up at 5 a.m. the morning of the harvest bee and couldn't fall back asleep.

"I was just too excited," he said, stopping to wave at a friend who honked at him while hauling grain.

He was in the fields all day.

Farming, he said, is his passion.

"If I go in the house, I'll miss something," he laughed. "I'm just so amazed. People are donating their time, their using their equipment. This is a great feeling."

He's an active guy. When he's not in the fields, Buck has been known to be driving a rural mail route or coaching the freshmen boys basketball team at Gehlen Catholic School.

He's already been back to visit the Gehlen basketball team. Getting back to his mail route is on the horizon.

"As soon as he gets his release from the doctor, he's coming back to work," said the Merrill postmaster, Lori Steckelberg. "He's a very energetic person. Fun."

She's not the only one who thinks so. He received so much support at the hospital that the doctors told him he should run for president.

"And he told them, 'I just want to be a coach,'" his mom remembered.

The 26 year old does have goals ahead of him -- the big one is he wants to walk again.

"And he will," his mom said.

He's working every day with physical therapy, and his wife Becca is helping, she said.

"Each day is a challenge, but he wants challenges," Mary Ann said.

Another goal for Buck -- to spend next year's harvest behind the wheel of his combine.

"I'm going to be putting the corn and soybeans into the ground in the spring, so I'll definitely be here next fall," Buck said. "I have a lot of life ahead of me, a lot of harvest ahead of me."