Thanksgiving on the Farm

[nitefarm]

Dad didn’t get a 2mh picker until I was in the 8th grade. We had a Woods one row until then. Guess who was selected to get the “ down row with the one horse wagon. Those were the days. 

[BA Deere]

Age is a number, I`ve already reproduced so it matters less, but I`m 56 and act like i`m 16 sometimes  🙂  On the 2-MH picker, I recall a high yielding but dirty corn in the 70s was Funks G, so sometimes we`d cut about 4 feet of chicken wire, attach to snapping rollers turn it over and wrap around the roller and it helped immensely in the picking ability.  We`d put chicken wire on the husking rollers too.  The 234 was quite the picking machine, striper plates so you wouldn`t leave a trail of kernels and you could pick as fast as you could stay on the row, which was booking with the cultivator ridges holding you on the row.

I recall hearing good things about Wood Brothers pickers and combines.  I don`t know if Oliver ended up buying them out.  Dad had some down corn kind of bad one year and bought a Oliver picker that worked like a cat`s meow.  A dealer had a demonstration in a paved lot, he laid out ears and the Oliver picker scooped them up right off the ground. 

[sw363535]

So that’s three hours of “hot for teacher” and a 4th hour of why do we need history — “might as well go ahead and jump”.

points in time are defined by what went before—- like when Deere unleashed a hydraulic system that would change tractors for years to come, then hung a new cylinder on the back — I was that boy who wasn’t man enough to lift the disc out of the ground.  

[fwain]

Hi BA,

I had a stick for keeping the leaves off the muffler on my 2MH picker. Mounted on an M with a #10 sheller. It was made so you could remove a plate on each row and just pick ear corn.

I grew up on a JD "A". My Dad bought it new in 1951. Only new tractor he ever had. I learned to plow on  an MM "R" pulling a Little Genius 2-12 plow on steel.

My Dad was born on '11 and used to say they went from farming with horses to the moon in his lifetime.

I also got my first 8 grades in St Mark Lutheran one room school. We used the Roosevelt monuments in my first grade, then got inside plumbing in 1950. If I got a licking at school the principal would call my Mom and I got another one when I got home. 

It was a different America then.

Merry Christmas everybody, a little early.

[BA Deere]

SW, I used a 37 IH tandem disc behind the Dubya-9.  Got into using a straight disc a little, they worked good filling in dead furrows.

Fwain, a fellow Lutheran!  ♪ This is the Feast of Victory for our Lord, Hallelujah Halleluuuuuujah ♪ .   Forget about Starbucks and Caribou Coffee, I maintain that the best Coffee ever is brewed in a Church basement by the WELCA Ladies Aid!

I would say that first 8th grade Lutheran education contains more common sense that a 4yr university degree today.  Man, a 2 bottom  12" plow, any field would look too big  🙂

[sw363535]

1st of all.............. BA, Thanks............ head down for a while                      for remind me that it is up to us to find the good in every day.... This was a great thanksgiving entry.  I just couldn't...... thanks

Fwain -- Roosevelt monuments......... 🙂     Not a term I was allowed to use.... One grandparent family was beaten down by the dust bowl and could not make the change from horses to tractors (mentally) .. nor could they blame roosevelt for anything.. with him or without him they had nothing.

The other side was progressive, education based, positive and fun.  Yet they sold their farm after loosing 3 of 5 children to the depression and the risks of farming.  Knowing they had very little retirement or anything else left, they quit and went to work in town to have something saved for an independent finish.  My mother was their only surviving daughter and their only surviving son rode a ship in the Pacific, finished college, lived and retired in california.  He is headed for his 94th birthday in December..... still living at home.    My dad and mom moved to stevens county Ks in 1949 to find a place in farming.   But the outhouse we used until 1957 never had a political leaning although the prominant south wind leaned it a little north(The wind on the otherhand may have had lots of names over time)  But we never named or blamed our limitations on anyone else....just wasn't  us... in 2020 we should know how rough life can be and as you and BA points out ,  we have choices of things to think about, and things to do.  My dad, in the early 50's didn't have enough to farm but had some free time, saw that there was indoor plumbing for both my grandparents, and after 1958 my mom would live the rest of her life without a trip outside for a bathroom.  By 1959 he rented acres and found his place.    Indoor plumbing was bigger than all that stuff.

[lsc76cat]

Well dd = old enough that this is grandkid #10.

Li'l Miss B = she helped grandma put everything in and even did some stirring.

Started by snitching marshmallows after checking to make sure grandma wasn't watching.

Later came the main course,,,,

Like I mentioned in another post = way too cute and sweet to be expected to pay off our debt!!!

"Truly Blessed" will be on our tombstone.

[fwain]

BA,

Your mention of coffee reminds me that some of the rural churches nearby, including mine, joked about leaving the communion wine in the sacristy but locked up the coffee. 🙂

[lsc76cat]

Lutheran church pot lick dinner:  aka "crock pot lid switching party"

[ddtfarm1]

Well, I thought I might be the kid on this block but I just turned 69 so I've got a few years on some, anyway.

My two veteran WWII Staff Sergeant parents raised us on the small dairy farm as if the war was still going with the early rising and discipline. We used Allis Chalmers and  Farmall H/M tractors equipped with all the 50's and 60's trimmings , which of course meant overalls for cold protection and ball caps for the summer sun. My brother and I were assigned, at a young age, an Allis WD or WD 45 for much of the tillage since it had a hand clutch and  we struggled to reach the foot clutch on Farmalls. Saturdays they sent us off after chores to plow, or disc and harrow the distant farm with some cold sandwiches and a thermos of Kool Aid for our nutritional needs. The farm dog usually came along as our faithful companion.  Then we'd come back before the evening milking to finish out the day at the barn after a couple of hours later. Those were the good old days in our hearts, but our minds don't always agree these days. But I wouldn't change a thing. All that early discipline and responsibility gave me an advantage over my peers throughout my career in and out of ag.  For that, I'm thankful.

Farm life was more a lifestyle choice than a business then because we did not make a lot of money. Ag was our heritage and hard work was a prominent factor of success. The passing of time has complicated that simple business plan.

Not much later, Brother died in the military and Dad passed early from health issues aggravated by overwork essentially. I came back from active duty to the farm to keep it going with my mother. Now my siblings have moved away and my kids and their kids haved moved far away with totally different lives and want no part of rural ag.  I wish they could share my positive memories and that they would desire the opportunity the farm presents. As was said before,"how do you keep them down on the farm once they've seen the lights of Paris?" ( literally). 

I loved the stories told here and appreciate the thread.  Farming is hard, always has been and  will continue to be. I now know that many occupations have similar histories.  My hope is that  our generation's contributions allow generations following us to have the feelings of security and pride in the the country that were given to us.  Happy Holidays.