Threshing Bee

[Pterodactyl]

Took the PakMul to a Threshing Bee (OK, it was at a neighbor’s place, but did ride over there). A friend holds this each year at his place and invites any and all to come and watch. He collects tractors and other farm equipment from the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The thresher is a labyrinth of exposed pulleys and belts, each and everyone ready to grab anything that wanders too close. No wonder that farmers of the day often were missing fingers, arms or other body parts. The trailer holding the grain was pulled by a restored International Harvester Farmall tractor.



Power for the thresher is provided by a belt driven by a steam powered tractor. In this case the tractor is a Reeves & Company tractor. My friend also has a Case steam powered tractor, as well as, a rock crusher and saw mill that can be powered by either engine. It is essentially a railroad engine that is used on land. It produces less than 100 horse power, but produces an immense amount of torque (exact amount for this tractor is unknown but steam tractors are known to produce 2-3000 ft-lbs).



Each year my friend plants an acre or so of a grain to be used at the threshing bee. He plants wheat, oats or barley; this year it was wheat. He plants and harvests the grain using antique equipment as well. The grain is collected in large bags held in the back of a Model T pick-up truck. He sells it to local bakeries that make their own flour. The chafe is used as beddng for his wife's goats and chickens.

[0face]

That's cool.

[Toter]

Gives you a glimpse of what life used to be like. Pretty cool.

[raYzerman]

I are experienced in threshing machines and Farmalls..... My dad and his two brothers shared the threshing machine, and we travelled to each farm to do the grain harvest. Heaven help you if you had to go up in the straw mow to level anything, the dust would stick to you as you sweat to death and you'd be black. Fortunately the blower was adjustable so kept that to a minimum. Earlier than harvest season was haying season....

There's a couple of steam era shows near here every year, and some show up at the local fall fair. Fun to see all the old stuff in action. There's a vintage tractor show too where you'll see all the collectors with their Farmalls, Allis Chalmers, Case, Moline, JD's, Massey's and more... all restored to original. My neighbour down the road a bit has a half dozen Farmalls on the front lawn.... they all work, he moves them around, but they all are in need of restoration.

[wheatonFJR]

Thanks for sharing that. When I was about 6 we had our first family trip in the station wagon west on beautiful I-80 to the family farm in northeast Nebraska. My mom's dad was still working the farm in his mid 60s but he spent life outdoors and looked very old and grizzled. He kept his teeth in a jar overnight. I know full well the sound of the 1940s John Deere and a 1950s Farmall. Since I didn't work the farm, it was a magical place with the expansive sloping fields, and many different animals... some harvested for supper. When all mom's six brothers came to the farm for grandma and grandpa's 40th wedding anniversary, there were cousins galore as we chased each other around and climbed the old Box Elder tree near the homestead.

That long ride 575 miles along beautiful I-80 seemed never ending...but it was all worth it when we turned up that long gravel driveway outside of Newman Grove, NE.

That land is still used for farming, but that driveway is gone, as well as the ole homestead. My mom and all her brothers are gone.

But I still love the memories, that isn't so easily destroyed... though I know those will be gone eventually.

Thanks again for sharing...
I could use hearing the sound of that old Johnny Popper right about now.

[Pterodactyl]

Thanks for sharing that. When I was about 6 we had our first family trip in the station wagon west on beautiful I-80 to the family farm in northeast Nebraska. My mom's dad was still working the farm in his mid 60s but he spent life outdoors and looked very old and grizzled. He kept his teeth in a jar overnight. I know full well the sound of the 1940s John Deere and a 1950s Farmall. Since I didn't work the farm, it was a magical place with the expansive sloping fields, and many different animals... some harvested for supper. When all mom's six brothers came to the farm for grandma and grandpa's 40th wedding anniversary, there were cousins galore as we chased each other around and climbed the old Box Elder tree near the homestead.

That long ride 575 miles along beautiful I-80 seemed never ending...but it was all worth it when we turned up that long gravel driveway outside of Newman Grove, NE.

That land is still used for farming, but that driveway is gone, as well as the ole homestead. My mom and all her brothers are gone.

But I still love the memories, that isn't so easily destroyed... though I know those will be gone eventually.

Thanks again for sharing...
I could use hearing the sound of that old Johnny Popper right about now.

I'll bet your new grandson will remember you as old and grizzled. The important thing is that he, and all the future grand kids, have reason to remember you.

Annie's paternal grandparents were from the Kilgore/Valentine area of north central NE. There are still some of her relatives that have a place up in SD on the Rosebud Reservation. We rode thru Kilgore once and took a look at the abandoned house Annie's dad was born and raised in; not much more than a shack. He had his appendix removed on the kitchen table by a veterinarian. Tough place to live during the depression.

[Hppants]

I enjoy seeing old machinery of any kind. To see it actually working at what it was designed to do would be really cool.

Amber waves of grain. Right on, Kevin!

[wheatonFJR]

I doubt that I will be remembered much...except as that old guy married to gramma. We like our place in life...but it doesn't compare in a kid's eye to a working farm! Again, thanks for posting...you old dinosaur.