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HomeMy WebLinkAbout28th Huron Pioneer Thresher Reunion, 1989-09-06, Page 8PAGE A-8. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1989. A helping hand WithoutthehelpoftheseMennoniteswhocametoRobbieFine’sfarm toassisthim Mennonites travelled by horse-drawn carriage from Belmore to Mr. Fine’s place with thestooking, he wouldn’t have been able to harvest his 40 acres of wheat. The just outside of Whitechurch - a ride that took them over two hours. Mennonites still farm the old way BY USA BOONSTOPPEL At one time, Robbie Fine of Whitechurch drove a car, used electricity and lived and farmed like a conventional Canadian. Then, about two years ago, Mr. Fine gave up his automobile for a horse-drawn buggy, his modern machinery for horses and his Baptist upbringing for the Menno- nite belief. Now Mr. Fine is farming and living the life of a Mennonite. “I farm like a Mennonite because I believe it is more pleasurable to God,” said Mr. Fine who operates a 153 acre rented farm with his wife Suzie and four young children. On his acreage Mr. Fine grows 40 acres of wheat, 20 acres of com and 60 acres of beans of which 30 acres are soybean and 30 acres are white beans, with his own five heavy horses and five heavy colts along with four other heavy horses on loan. The farm supports the family along with a wide assortment of animals. Besides the work horses, there are two horses for the buggy. Inhabiting the bam with the horses are a herd of 16 Jerseys for shipping cream; some sows, a gaggle of geese, some laying hens and a sheep. ‘‘I am a little too ambitious some say, but I have to pay the rent,” said Mr. Fine who rents the property for about $6,00 a year and finds he needs to operate a substantial operation to cover costs. How­ ever, he does plan to harvest less acreage next year because he admits the work is too much for one man. “It’s a lot easier when you have a large family because you can all work together,” he said. His children are all under the age of six. If it weren’t for the help of the Belmore Mennonites, whom he is affiliated to through the Mennonite church in Belmore where he has been going for the last year, he would never be able to harvest his crops. “I am in charge of my own farm but if I, or another Mennonite isn’t done his harvest, other Mennonite farmers will get together to help him finish up.” It is with manpower and horsepower that the Mennonites and Mr. Fine plant and harvest. Plowing, harrowing and seeding are all done with old machinery that requires the pulling of horses and the direction of the farmer who generally sits on a steel seat situated on the aged equipment. ‘‘I can sow about eight acres a day with the horses and seed drill,” said Mr. Fine whose days are very long. For Mr. Fine, just sowing his 40 acres of wheat took at least five full days. Once the wheat has grown and is ready for harvest, it is cut with a binder where the cut stalks fall on a canvass that leads to a binding apparatus which ties many stalks into a sheaf. The binder then deposits these sheaves on the field with the wheat heads in the same direction every time. There are two ways that sheaves can be dropped on the field. For single man farmers like Mr. Fine who may not be able to get into the field the next day to stook the sheaves, they are dropped in piles of three which is easier and faster to stook than when they are lying individually. The sheaves are then picked up and made into stooks which are usually made up of seven sheaves. Mr. Fine got his field stooked on August 16 with the help of five Mennonite men who drove almost three hours from Belmore to help him. One of those men, Daniel Martin estimated that “a good man can stook about eight acres a day.” The stooking took a little longer in Mr. Fine’s field because they were lying individually which slows down the gather­ ing of the sheaves. Since Mr. Fine’s wheat had been lying unstooked in the field, the Mennonite crew planned on threshing the wheat the next day after only one day stooked in the sun. In fact, had it not rained, Mr. Fine said they probably would have threshed the grain without stooking it. Mr. Martin said that stooks withstood the rain much better than the swathed rows of wheat of conventional farmers. The next day, a three-man crew was ready to thresh the grain. One of the Mennonites from Belmore took to the stooked field with a pitch-fork and horse- drawn wagon to gather up the wheat. With skill and strength, that man loaded the wagon as high as loaded square bale wagons, except he loaded it from the .ground. The horses were trained to stop and go on voice command. The wagon was brought back to the barn for in-the-bam threshing. Mr. Fine’s threshing machine is a handsomely decor­ ated piece from 1955 which he traded 12 geese for. The horses pulled the loaded wagon up the steep inclination to the thresher whereupon, Mr. Fine climbed to the top of the load and began feeding the wheat sheaves into the tractor powered thresher. Mr. Fine uses a tractor but most Mennonites use a power unit to run the threshers. The conveyor in the thresher carried the wheat inside the large machine where the wheat was separated from the stalks and then dumped into a storage area. A pipe from the thresher blew the straw into the mow. To get the grain really clean of weed seeds and insects, explained Mr. Fine, the deck on the bottom of the thresher which contains a scour “must rotate between 180 and 200 times a minute.” Mr. Fine calculates the rotations by placing his hand on the apparatus and counting the rota­ tions by the time of a spring-driven watch piece. The threshing takes approximately three days with six men on 40 acres estimated For the other crops Mr. Fine grows, old-fashioned procedures are also imple­ mented. The corn is cut with a corn binder which binds the corn into a sheaf. The sheaves are then put into a cutting box which blows the com up the silo. The stored silage is forked out by hand. Mr. Fine also has 60 acres of beans that he hasn’t decided how to harvest. If he had to do it by hand, it would take weeks to harvest. ‘‘There are problems and adjustments in adjusting to the Mennonite way of life,” said Mr. Fine. His wife was more apprehensive about making the lifestyle adjustment admitted Mr. Fine who reveal­ ed tnat ne nas lived a plainer life than most. ‘‘I wanted to live closer to the Lord so I adapted the Mennonite way of life,” said Mr. Fine who admits he’s still working at it. The farm does have electricity and since it is rented, they cannot remove the power source. But, they don’t have an automobile or a telephone. The family plans to move to Belmore where they will adapt a Menno­ nite lifestyle. ‘‘The Mennonites make it easier for us,” said Mr. Fine, ‘‘what we don’t know they teach us.” Continued on page A-9 Bam threshing Threshing is done in the barn at Robbie Fine’s place just outside of Whitechurch. As Mr. Fine’s son looks on from the hayloft, the grain is put into the aged machine by a helpful Mennonite and it is separated. The grain is dumped into the storage bin under the planks while the large pipe blows the straw into the mow.