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NE Iowa | We moved to the farm in 1976. Earliest memory was trying to figure out how many passes the planter had made with 1 row malfunctioning. Dig up a row, find no corn, move to the next pass, repeat until you found corn. Sure is nice having a monitor.
We had corn custom harvested then, but later Dad bought a picker. Memory from then is rushing home after school so I could ride in the barge box and push corn to the corners to get a little more in before heading for the crib. Man those ears could hurt if one caught you in the back of the head flying off the elevator.
The picker left a fair # of ears on the ground, so every fall we would walk the field picking up ears. Had a '38 B pulling some type of wagon - Dad would get it set in the right row and he would jump off and we would all walk along side of it - corn rows were ridged enough for it's autosteer to work fine and 1st gear at idle was a nice walking pace.
When it came time to shell the corn, most exciting part was shaking loose a den of rats. Those suckers would always scurry out of the crib in the same path. So dad took the push lawn mower and dug it in a little bit until the blade was just above the ground. Was very effective at getting rid of rats and providing entertainment.
Favorite 'early' memory was probably pulling a 4-bottom with a 730 diesel. I was in high school and doing that in the evenings. It was cool, so best way to stay warm was to stand up and the exhaust would keep my head/shoulders warm. When I got home, face was black. That was fun at the time, but sure don't miss it.
Back to work.... | |
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