Sunday, August 14, 2005

threshing bee



Here at the Farmers Wife we spare no expense to bring you the best American midwest experience. Today I headed out to a threshing bee....not just any threshing bee, but a steam powered event!

Let me begin by saying that if it's mechnical and has an engine, there's a guy somewhere that collects it. As for Farmers Wives, they simply hold out for a 1970 Chevelle SS454.

The four day event at a local farm in Sycamore, provides last minute summer jobs to local teenagers who run the parking lot, a.k.a. a large pasture just south of the outbuildings. It was quite exciting for me to do a little off-roading across the bumpy field in my Grand Am.

This is the Lott Miller rig, which is an appropriate entry to begin the foray into a steam powered farm experience. IT RUNS!! And it was the vehicle in charge of the corn husking apparatus. More about that later, and coming up.....a contest!

My hope was to get down to the small Aurora airport later in the day to capture photos of the WW2 B17G Flying Fortress. There's only so much time and money! The 25 minute flight in the flying fortress came in at $395, and that's more than the Farmers Wife budget can comfortably afford. Heck, the Farmers Wife doesn't have a budget come to think of it.

But today I spent $9.95.........
Entrance ticket - $5.00
Ear of roasted corn - $1.00
Small tub of homemade fudge - $1.00
Jar of homemade Blackberry Butter - $2.95

An awful lot of fun for under 10 bucks. So here's Lot Miller rig, and we're on our way.

3 comments:

KatKit13 said...

Blackberry butter? Oh sign me up for some of that!! I love old farm equipment and antiques in general. There was an annual steam tractor event in the small town in Ohio where I'm from. I just loved the whistles.

srp said...

I second the above, the blackberry butter really caught my attention. Engines are great, as long as they run. Since my main foray into mechanics was filing the points on my old Opal Cadet stuck at a light in north Dallas while two men stood their scratching their heads. then watching them in my rearview mirror as I drove away, I feel certain I am not mechanical. I guess I should have spent more time in the big machine shed with my uncles while they rebuilt the combine.

Back to the blackberry butter...would there be a recipe hidden somewhere in there?

Ezequiel Mesquita said...

Beautiful vintage engine!
BTW, I eagerly wait for photos of the Flying Fortress...I think I should begin sparing for the flight in the B-17. (MMM, maybe first I need to spare for the trip to USA... :)