Thrashing time

​     I was about ten when dad bought his first combine, it was a used one and I will delve into that in a minute or ten.

     Prior to that (as far back as I can remember one of our neighbors, had what was known as a threshing machine). Back to that in a minute or five.

     Dad had a machine called a binder, it was pulled by two horses and it would cut the grain close to the ground (oats in July and wheat in August).  It would cut the grain and bundle it and tie it with binder twine. When it had four bundles dad would kick a lever and drop the bundles to the ground. My brothers and I would go to each group and stand three bundles upright and lay the forth bundle across the top to protect from rain or dew.

     Dad would make an appointment with the neighbor to bring his threshing machine and four or five neighbors would come to help with wagons and horses.  They would go to the field and load the bundles of grain to their wagons and bring them to the threshing machine and it would separate the grain from the straw. It had a bagging area that had two spouts that held two bags where one man would fill a bag move the lever to the next bag and while that was filling he would tie the bag, throw it off on the ground and put another bag in its place.  The straw would be deposited in a big pile.  It would be a one or two day job depending how big the field was or if we had two fields to do. Then the threshing machine would move to the next neighbor and dad would go help him.

     Mom would make a big noon meal for everybody and they would tell her that she was the best cook in the county. She always made four or five pies one of which was always rhubarb.  The men always ate first and then the kids got to eat. Mom knowing rhubarb pie was my favorite would always set aside a piece for me.

      Dad found a used combine, a machine pulled by a tractor. It was run by a connector called a power take off from the tractor. It would cut the grain and separate the grain from the straw and chaff leaving the straw on the ground behind it and put the grain in bags the same way the thresher did so a man or a boy would have to stand on the combine and tie off full bags and switch bags. Full time job. Then we had to load the 60 lb bags on the wagon to take to the barn and empty in the grain bin and at a later date rake the straw into rows with the tractor and hay rake.  Then dad would have the neighbor who had a baler to come and bale the straw.  We could hook a wagon to the baler and Bob would load the bales on the wagon from the baler and when that wagon was full we would switch wagons and dad and I would take them to the barn to unload it. 

     After a few years dad was able to get a new combine that would put the grain in a storage bin and we could then dump it into a wagon and take it to the barn.

     SIDE NOTE:  There was always a lot of black crickets around the thresher machine and one of the guys that came to help us liked to fish and he would bring a glass jar with a top and give it to me and offer m a penny a cricket to gather some for him. He never counted them but always gave me a dollar for them.

     SIDE NOTE #2:  One time dad had the threshing done in the barnyard and the straw pile was where the cows could get to it. They loved munching on the straw and the little bits of grain scattered thru out.  The pile was about 8 feet high and as the cows munched, they ate tunnels thru it in different directions over time.  We had fun playing hide and seek or tag in those tunnels. One time we pulled a ladder out there and climbed to the top on the pile.  We were king of the barnyard. One time running thru a tunnel I came face to face with a cow, scared both of us😜