People often ask where we get story ideas for Farm Collector. I don’t want to drill too deeply into the answer to that, as it starts looking rather like the process of making sausage, but suffice to say that the freelancers who write for the magazine come up with a lot of great suggestions ...

For my money, there’s no collection so dear as the local collection. In this issue, we’ll introduce you to a Wisconsin man who has a deep affection for anything produced by Appleton Mfg. Co., which once operated near his home. Established in 1872, the Appleton company got an early start, ...

The cacophony of July 4 firecrackers is a signal to me to get out the suitcase and start scouting routes in the atlas: It’s almost show season! I know there are shows in June and July, but I typically opt for August and September, when I can be assured of full heat and humidity. In those ...

In these pages, we often drop back for a look at early tractors, steam traction engines or stationary gas engines. We think about what it would be like to try to farm with such comparatively primitive machines. Sometimes we look at windmills and reflect on the challenges of a stretch of time ...

Time is so doggone relative. That thought occurred to me at a big family gathering this spring. First time that group had been together in 15 months, and yet, as we sat down to dinner, all that time dissolved and it was as if we’d picked up right where we’d left off. Then, today, I ...

Aware that for many of you Farm Collector is a magazine offering escape from today’s world into a time that exists only in memory, we have done our best to keep the global pandemic out of it. Certainly the logistics of show schedules and mail delivery have necessitated the occasional mention, ...