The Day the Thresher Came

Enlarge Image Image Gallery The threshing crew poses with the Cusack family circa 1912. Patrick's father, Charles

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The children played in the farmyard on hot summer days. Their usual games were 'Hide and Seek' and 'Ho-Bo.' As they played on an especially warm day in July 1930, the children heard the faint 'puff-puff' of a smokestack in the far-off distance. They knew the magic day had finally arrived - threshing day was always the highlight of summer.

The familiar sound signaled that Jim Stevenson or Frank Wolfert, and their steam engine and crews were coming to thresh the wheat. When black smoke was first sighted, the big steam engine was still 2 miles away. Due to its weight, the engine moved at about 1 1/2 to 3 mph.

Naturally, all the children ran to the highest spot on the farm to snatch a first glance as it came over the hill. The cupola on top of the barn was the best spot for a first view. It was, however, the hardest to get to at this time of year because the barn was empty. To reach the cupola, the kids had to throw a rope over the track in the roof and pull themselves up on the rope.

As word that the thresher had arrived spread, the excitement eventually reached the kitchen. The house had been cleaned extra well by the girls. There had been days devoted to baking in anticipation of the big day. As no one knew for sure when the thresher would arrive, the engine noise and the huge, black billows of smoke signaled the day had finally come.

Harvest preparations

Dad and my older brothers had worked for days to guarantee the wheat bins were ready for the harvest. The bins needed repair each year, because rats gnawed holes in the floor in their attempt to glean the last bit of grain during the preceding winter. Dad patched the holes with sheet metal, and back then, the most available source of sheet metal was the Prince Albert tobacco tin.

Next, space in the barnyard was cleared to make way for the new straw stack. Straw was a by-product from the grain harvest. The straw was valuable for bedding the animals in the coming winter, covering vegetables to prevent freezing, and was even used in the farmhouse for filling ticks. An additional chore for the children involved preparing the straw ticks.

The ticks - or mattress covers - were emptied each year and readied for fresh straw. The ticks were blue-and-white-striped material sewn together to form a mattress cover with one opening where straw was tucked inside. When a tick was filled with fresh straw, the opening was closed to prevent the bedding from escaping. Then the ticks were used as mattresses for the farmhands' beds. The best straw to use for ticks was fresh wheat straw with no beards (or stickers) on the heads. Barley and oat straw wasn't suitable because of the great number of beards.

The boys had extra chores, as well. The big washtub had to be cleaned, filled with rainwater and placed in the sun to warm. Large towels were stacked beside a smaller tub on a bench. The crew got very dirty while working with the harvest, and at mealtime each man stood over the tub and threw the water up onto his face. More than one man stood around the tub at a time for efficiency, and the water might have to be replaced a couple of times before the entire crew was finished working. Often, there was a friendly scuffle over towels, and someone's head got shoved in the water. Yet, it was all in fun, and real fighting was absolutely forbidden until after the day's work was done.

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