threshing

I learned what a thresher was this weekend. I had no idea, but Terry and I went with Beth to a National Threshers Reunion down in Ohio.

Turns out threshers are old style ways of farming, I think. The event brought a ton of people, more than I ever thought was possible, to look at old style farming equipment, steam engine farming equipment, and horse drawn farming equipment. Obviously, we went for the horses.

Beth brought Art and Curly. She wanted Curly to get exposure and experience the commotion of the golf carts, farming equipment, and steam. Curly was not a fan of the steam engines. Art could have cared less, but he was raised with all that stuff.

There was a ton of mules, Belgians, and Haflingers that were plowing a field. There was a 6 hitch (that ran 3 across in two rows) of Belgians, and and 8 hitch (4 across in two rows) of mules. There was also a couple teams that ran three across. It was all pretty cool to see.

Six Belgians

Eight mules

Neal and three of his Haflingers

Three mules

Bethany's two mules,Millie and Katie (Bethany shows Millie at our NWODC shows)

Beth drove Art and Curly in her forecart and worked on getting Curly to walk in the furrow. Curly did really good with all of the activity going on. Luckily, when the steam engines came by, Curly was tied to the trailer. Curly also decided it was a good idea to kick at the trailer tire and rip the air stem off. Oops. Good thing Beth had a spare and it was quickly changed out. 

We had a good day just hanging out with horses and draft folk. I got to share some of my Haflinger knowledge with a guy that was very interested in the horses. And then Terry and I spent a long time chatting with Beth and walking around her property. She has all kinds of things that grow there on their own: raspberries and apples, plus her garden with strawberries and a bunch of other vegetables. I want my land to produce food I can eat for free! Terry eats grass and other weird things, so she can get food just about anywhere. But those raspberries were so delicious, much better than store raspberries. 

Anyway, I now know what a thresher is. And I had a fun time with horses and friends.