Homestead mailing list

["Marie McHarry" <mmcharry AT gmail.com>]

 On Sat, May 10, 2008 at 9:08 PM, SJC <indexer AT localnet.com> wrote:

> He and I both learned to drive on that tractor, together (took two,
> neither one of us long enough to reach both wheel and brakes....be
> illegal in this day and age to send that combo to the field.  But we
> could do anything my uncle could do with it, including cultivate without
> ripping out rows....

I've used all the tractors on the place. My favorite is the middle
one, which I think was new in about 1930. I was a tad when Dad was
making the transiton from tractors and mules to just tractors. I sort
of wish that he hadn't got rid of the mules because they were ever so
much better for work that involved picking stuff up and then moving
the wagon a few feet (like picking up corn that the corn picker didn't
get or picking up branches after a storm).

I was quite adept with cultivating. One year dad found out he had
prostate cancer in late winter. He put off doing anything about it
until he got the crops planted because he didn't want the neighbors to
laugh if we did it and had crooked rows. However, I and my 3 sisters
did all the cultivating. Mercifully, for his peace of mind, he was
back when we brought the wheat in, but I still remember the thrill of
going into town with a fully loaded farm truck and having some jerk
pull in front of me like they thought I could stop quick.

Aaah, memory lane. I'm developing into one of those old people who
thinks her stories of what it was like back then are interesting. Of
course, when I was a child the old people actually did have
interesting stories and I was at least smart enough to listen.

Marie