Down On The Farm

February reminds me of two jobs on the farm, in the spring, that I thoroughly enjoyed. When the ground started to thaw and it started to get muddy the time was near. I think in those days we had colder winters and more snow. Don’t tell Al Gore or he’ll think he was right. Perhaps I was wrong we had one degree last night.

February was time to think about making maple syrup. We had approximately a dozen huge Sugar Maple trees on a hill in one of our woods. We only made several gallons each year but it was enough for us to use and give some away. To set up camp we moved the huge iron butchering kettle to the woods and made a stack of wood. Tap the trees, hang the buckets, keep the fire going and ladle the syrup into jugs. We simply banked the fire at night and next morning made another roaring fire. The weather was always chilly but warm by the fire. In the woods it is always warm even in zero weather.   

The other job was done on a day when it froze at night and thawed in the daytime. That was planting clover. We walked the wheat field with a seeder which was connected to a bag of seed over your shoulder. You turned the seeder by hand and walked across the field making a swath about 15 ft wide. Turn, move over, then return in the opposite direction. The seed was generally, Red Clover, White Clover, and Timothy mixed. Alfalfa was grown in a separate field.      

We grew soft winter wheat which was planted around September after other crops were off. By winter it was up several inches high and nice and green. The wheat stayed dormant all winter, and about April was a beautiful green. Wheat harvest began on July 4th, cutting a round and taking it to the mill to check for moisture. When I was a lad wheat was $2.25 a bushel, but you were docked heavily If it was not under 15% moisture.

Wheat was cut quite high leaving a stubble over a foot high. After harvest the straw was mowed with a hay mower, then baled. By wheat harvest the clover crop was up about 6 inches and ready for harvest in the fall. The hay crop would be harvested in the fall and several times the following year. I still crave the taste of maple syrup, and the smell of new mown hay.

I miss the timing of the seasons that we knew on the farm. Summer arrives here and I didn’t realize that spring had passed. On the farm we would have planted oats in the early spring. Next time we meet one of the funniest things that I remember.

—James Neuhouser