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Joe Schmidt and a three-horse team cutting oats with a binder in mid July. The oats were cut and put in shocks, and left to dry in the field. Later they are picked up and fed to the threshing machine (below; operated by Lawrence Vesty and Bill Ricksgers). The upper pipe sends the straw through a window into the barn loft; the grain comes out the lower pipe and is gathered in buckets or burlap bags. This machine was purchased by the Beaver Island farmers as a cooperative project, and moved from farm to farm. It was only used for a few years in the early 1950īs before farming lost its viability as a way of life. [ next ] | ||
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