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2009 Events February 9 Annual Meeting |
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2008 Board of Directors:
Featured Links
President:
Mel Hursey
Vice-President:
Tim Barrett
Secretary, Treasurer:
Paula Behrendt
Directors:
Dale Schroder
David Dittmer
Harvey Ferris
Bill Johnson
Charlie Leaders
Jerry Mez
Rick Newland
Nick Rosenow
The Good Old Days
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CUTTING ICE
The first in a series
Ice was cut every winter and stored in the ice house for future use. The ice was used in the icebox in the house to keep foods cool during the winter and spring months. During summer months when ice was unavailable, the “pulley-drawn “cistern shelves (located near the summer kitchen of the 1888 farm house) were used to lower butter, cream and milk into the cool cistern so they would not spoil.
The pond had a permanent shed to cover the engine of the conveyor used to harvest the ice from the pond.
The ice was first checked for thickness and then cut into long strips using the horse-drawn ice saw made by Henry Carstens, Sr. It was controlled with long ropes. The crew would then use the hand ice saws to cut the long strips into manageable blocks. They used long grappling poles to manipulate the blocks to the wooden conveyor slide. The blocks would be moved along up to the next person who would then stack and load the ice blocks on to a wagon. All the blocks would be transported to the ice house to be stacked and packed with straw or sawdust for use whenever needed throughout the winter and spring months.
Be sure to notice the huge icebox that Henry Carstens Sr. built which is currently displayed on the east porch of the house. Also be sure to see the many saws displayed around the icehouse – these were the actual saws used on this farm.
THRESHING
The 2nd in a series
A big job every year for a farmer was threshing oats. Usually neighbors helped neighbors so the job could be done more efficiently. Many farmers did not own threshing machines so the ones who did hired out throughout the neighborhood.
Crews of threshers could easily number 20 or more, thus making the whole day affair somewhat of an ordeal (especially for the women who where preparing all the food and baked goods on the hot wood-burning stoves).
Oats were sowed in the early spring using either a horse-drawn in-gate seeder or grain drill. The next step was harrowing the seed in with a horse-drawn 2-section harrow. All of this equipment is displayed at the farm.
When oats were ripe, a crew got together and cut the oats with a horse-drawn ground driven binder, which cut the standing grain and tied it into small bundles. Then the large crew got together and shocked the oats after an adequate drying time. Shocking means the smaller bundles were placed in teepee-shaped stacks, heads up, and left to dry for approximately two weeks. During that drying time the oats went through a "sweat", meaning that the moisture was leaving the heads. After that time, men called spike pitchers would follow the bundle rack, using three-tined pitchforks, would load the bundles on the rack, head end out.
The bundles are then allowed to dry for some time until a crew was formed for the annual threshing bee.
Threshing time meant the crew got together and "set" the threshing machine, which meant the thresher had to be leveled and definitely set so that the blower would blow all the straw and chaff downwind.
At Carstens Farm the Avery tractor was "set" into the belt to drive the thresher. The bundle racks were brought up to the thresher and unloaded off either side of the feeder house. Then the thresher would separate the grain from the straw and a wagon or truck was positioned under the grain auger to receive the newly gleaned oats. The straw was blown into a straw pile or directly into the barn. The straw pile was then baled using a stationary baler and the bales were stored in the hayloft for future use.
Henry Carstens, Sr. owned a threshing machine and tractor. He and neighbors formed a "threshing ring" that traveled from neighbor to neighbor, hired out so much per bushel for custom threshing.
