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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe 25th Huron Pioneer Thresher Reunion, 1986-09-03, Page 14t PAGE A-14, THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1986. Threshing was more than harvesting B Y KEITH RO ULSTON Are we really just nostalgic about the days of our youth? Is that why we who remember threshing days think things haven’t been the same since the combine took over or was there something really special about threshing? I sometimes wonder if youngsters growing up on the farm these days will have as pleasant memories of the com­ bine as we who grew up in an earlier era have of the threshing machine. I think they won’t. I grew up on a Kinloss township farm in a period that spanned both methods of har­ vesting. My earliest memories areof thethreshing machine but our family was also one of the earlier families to switch to thecombine. Yetdespitemy pride in my family being “progressive’’, I somehow thought we were missing out on something when the threshing gang pulled in the lane of my friends’ homes. Part of the feeling of missing out was because threshing wasn’t just harvesting, it was a social event of the year. It brought men together to swap tall tales and memories. It brought women together to exchange talks about kids and men and swap recipes. It brought all the young bucks in the neighbourhood together to try to outdo each other lifting whole stooks to the top of the wagon and to flirt with the youngergiris helping serve the food. Working on the combine, by comparison, was alonely job. It was as dusty and noisy and hot as the worst of the threshing gang but without the camarad­ erie. The big threshing gangs weren’t part of my early memories. Our neighbours had a threshing machine so my father and uncle worked with them doing their two farms and Threshing was always an exciting time for kids, a chance to not only see exciting machinery but be around adults in a work situation. -Photo courtesy Mel Jacklin. All of Us at West Wawanosh Mutual Insurance Co. in Dungannon wish all of you a great 25th Pioneer Thresher Reunion 529-7922 Continued on page A-15 our two farms. Still there was excitement being around that machine and we’d wait all day when we knew that they expected to be finished at one of the other farms and move onto ours. My brother and my friend and I would go squealing “They’re coming’’ when we saw the threshing machine coming up the road. Then there was the magic of watching them set up the threshing machine, hoist the elevator, level her up, crank out the straw blower and finally, lay out the belt and manoeuvre the tractor into just the right place to make it drive the engine most efficiently. I think that another reason today’s kids can never have as much fun remembering com­ bines as we had remembering threshing machines is that, efficient as they are, they just don’thave the personality of an old separator. There were so many gadgets and magical noises on the old machines that they held all the fascination for a youngster of one of those Rube Goldberg inventions. That’s why I enjoy going back to the Thresher Reunion year after year to hear the growing whine of the separator as it speeds up, to hear the whack of the belts when the tractor first starts to drive the thresher and to smell the smells of warm straw. After we watched the ma­ chine set up there’d be a race to the granary to be there by the timethefirst kernels tinkled down the grain spout and onto the newly-cleaned granary floor. Working in the granary was something we were all eager to do and the younger we were, the more eager we were. When the threshing began we’d shovel the first bit of grain so many times it was nearly ground to chop, but later, when we sank to our knees in the to the 25th Annual Thresher Reunion Threshermen Reunion Visitors Friday and Saturday, September 5 & 6 "MANY INSTORE FEATURES Webster's Clothing and Footwear Hours: Open 6days a week Monday to Wednesday 9-6 p.m. Thursday and Friday 9-8:15 p.m. Saturday 9-6 p.m. Main Street, Blyth 523-9709 Howson & Howson Ltd ★ Fast Unloading *Biyth ★Accurate Probe System ★Trucking available Forward contracting of corn and soybeans. Come in and see us or give us a call and let us help you look after your crop. 523-9624 Elevator 523-4241 Main office