Simple Ways

A long time ago when I was a child seeing a field like this was normal.  Now when I see one it is special.

Shocks of grain in a field near my maternal Grandparents old farm.

Everyone rests on Sunday, except of course the horse.  You have to stop and think that perhaps this mode of transportation has it’s merits..no gasoline is involved.  The only emissions are of the solid or liquid variety of fertilizer quality. Nothing is imported or refined.  No wars are fought over hay or oats.  There are no middle men or CEO’s that are going to profit and retire with millions here.

Sometimes a simpler life is appealing to me, I like horses and would love to go to town in a carriage..of course it would take all day..so I wouldn’t have time to cook, clean, bake bread or hand wash my laundry. Once I got to town I would just guard the carriage since I don’t like to shop.  

Have you ever seen  any Amish in the nursing home?  Do their people work so hard that they escape the “home”..or do they surround their elderly with love and care everyday until their last day on earth arrives? 

I would like to take bits and pieces of this lifestyle..the horses and carriages..the feeling of family that surrounds you unconditionally with love and support even when you get old. Do I want to hand wash clothing and wear dresses everyday..and a hat..and look down a lot..and never have an opinion of my own..probably not:) 

Wistful Wednesday : Grain Binder

This is an old photo of Far Guy's Grandfather Abbott in the grain field.  This photo was marked with only one name, I will assume that he is the fellow in the white shirt and suspenders..the silhouette looks right for his build.  An old tractor is pulling two grain binders through a grain field.

 An old grain binder at a neighbors.*** Correction from Dumbo, an old neighbor. The photo of the old rusty equipment beside the building is a swather. That is like a binder, except that instead of elevating the grain to a binding mechanism, it just moved it to one end of the machine and laid it on the ground. This windrow would later be picked up by a combine and threshed and the straw left in the field.

Grandpa Abbott is steering a ground/wheel driven grain binder, it had no engine.   From what I recall of this contraption, it cut and bound the grain into bundles.    My Mother sometimes had to repair the canvas, I remember playing on it when I was little.  The canvas had wooden slats, the long section of canvas ran the full length of the machine, when the cutter cut the grain, it fell onto the canvas, and then traveled along the canvas to be bundled and tied.  Each bundle or sheaf was plopped down onto the ground to be to be stacked together.  A sheaf of grain is one that can be easily carried under one arm.  Several bundles or sheaves would make a shock of grain.  Combines made this piece of farm equipment obsolete:)

Shocks of grain in a field near Frazee Minnesota August 2009 

Old Photograph Wednesday Part IV

Well I guess I am going to call Wednesdays, Old Photograph Wednesday, since it seems to be my theme on Wednesdays. Perhaps it could have a more glamorous title..but for the moment ..what that would be escapes me. Leave a comment if you have a catchy opinion! A reader left me a comment, asking if I remember the shocks of grain standing in the fields?
Yes, I do remember, all looking like little tee pees. This picture I have shared with you shows my Grandpa Y. with a pitchfork, out in a grain field, his work is behind him. He was a wonderful, dear man who I still miss to this day. My Mother took this picture in 1952, it was their first harvest of grain on their "own" farm, the farm where I grew up.



This picture is of my Grandpa and his son, my Uncle Adolf having lunch in the field. You can see the lunch bucket between them, my Mother used to make lunch..homemade bread and meat, some pickles, and cookies or cake that were all put inside a big cooking pot, covered with a dish towel and taken to the field. Coffee and milk went into glass jars and were wrapped in heavy towels. I loved lunching in the field as a small child it was the highlight of my day!


Grain was harvested with a Binder that cut and bound it into sheaves, many sheaves were then set on end to form a shock of grain. The grain shocks were left in the field to dry. Then the Threshing Crew or the as I like to call them the Thrashing Crew would come. There was lots of baking and cooking the day before, such excitement, then they would come one by one, all the farmers to help each other thrash the grain. It was a cooperative effort, farmers helping farmers. It was dirty hard work, the men would wash up outside and then come into the house for "Lunch" ... and what a lunch it was.. Mountains of chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, garden vegetables, beans and carrots and of course fresh bread, and deserts the likes that only appeared once a year..pies, and cakes that a child with a sweet tooth would stare at in awe.

My Uncle Adolf was a frequent visitor at our home before he was married. He was a big guy, tall and strong. I was a very stubborn child and was prone to temper tantrums, I was into the stomping my feet as fast as they would go, alternating between screaming and holding my breath to get my way tantrums. Apparently it had been working, until the day my Uncle Adolf had his own tantrum, my Mother told me "He came into the kitchen while you were stomping your feet and screaming, and proceeded to stomp his feet so much that the whole floor shook, and that was the last of your temper tantrums." :)