Grain Harvest Festival - Threshing

Living History Farms a new concept in telling the story of progress in agriculture on a site directly adjoining interstates 80 and 35 near the center of Iowa this concept is taking shape at the end of July the first grain harvest festival brought hundreds of people to the farm site people with an interest in how farming was done in the old days Living History Farms first pioneer farmer was there with his hand build ox cart and a fine yoke of gentle but somewhat stubborn oxen interested spectators free to wander and watch and talk exhibiting the curiosity of the young and the nostalgia of the old no ropes they could go where they liked when they liked stand as close as they wanted take pictures probably nobody enjoyed the day more than the many participants who donated time and equipment to help relive the past hoist a few of the boys on them guys for sure dealer yeah wagon on the back of another wagon we've got two of them to go and then they hook the third one man was they ever fireflies get on this side now those days we do anything for a quarter that's birthday or the iowa pioneer the big iron kettle was essential here the woman of the house made soap rendered lard dyed cloth made apple butter in this area of Living History Farms with a stream nearby and cropland for wheat and corn the pioneer farmer is building his cabin and laying out a farmstead complete with all the modern conveniences of the 1840s the Pioneer farm is the first of three actual operating farms later on construction will start on a horse farm of the early 1900s and following that a farm of the future but in this cabin and the surrounding area the Pioneer farmer and his wife will live and work in the manor and with the tools of the middle 1800s the first grain harvest festival it's a start the kids had a chance to discover the grown-ups had a chance to remember everybody had a chance to savor the methods of the past it wasn't a hard day of flailing of the 1840s it wasn't a full day of threshing as many remembered from the early 1900's but it was a big day of enjoyment and experiences for both the participants and the observers there will be more field days at Living History Farms as cropped sir planted cultivated harvested and facilities develop when the Pioneer farm the horse farm and the farm of the future are finally in operation every day can be a field day for those interested in our agricultural heritage a day to discover in the past a day to recreate the feel of the times and that's what Living History Farms are all about