Remember when certain farm work was done with a crew? Thrashing was done with a crew. It seemed to take 2 men and a boy around the threshing machine, 2-3 men on bundle wagons and 2-3 men as field pitchers on our farm. I rotated back and forth between filing the oil cups on the thresher to being assistand field pitcher even though I was too small to pitch the bundles to the top of a loaded bundle wagon. Didn't like being around that dirty threshing machine.
Dad bought the first hay baler in the community so many neighbors wanted him to bale for him. He only took jobs for the neighbors that were willing to work on the baling crew. The baler needed a tractor driver, 2 men on the baler and the 4th man riding the hay wagons towed behind the baler. One person hauled the bale wagons back and forth to the yard and 3-4 guys stacked the bales.
I remember there was ample talk, bantering and macho postering among the crew. One had to have a thick hide or play deaf for some of the talk, but a young kid like myself could also learn things as well. When I turned 15, I was as tough as any man on the crew, so I volunteered to ride the wagon and handle those 100 (sometimes +) hand tied wire bales. I thought it was the best job on the whole crew; kept that job all summer long.
Dad bought the first hay baler in the community so many neighbors wanted him to bale for him. He only took jobs for the neighbors that were willing to work on the baling crew. The baler needed a tractor driver, 2 men on the baler and the 4th man riding the hay wagons towed behind the baler. One person hauled the bale wagons back and forth to the yard and 3-4 guys stacked the bales.
I remember there was ample talk, bantering and macho postering among the crew. One had to have a thick hide or play deaf for some of the talk, but a young kid like myself could also learn things as well. When I turned 15, I was as tough as any man on the crew, so I volunteered to ride the wagon and handle those 100 (sometimes +) hand tied wire bales. I thought it was the best job on the whole crew; kept that job all summer long.