When Farming Was Hard

It is the time of year when most farmers are working to get crops planted if they are not already in. Observing some of the huge outfits that are currently used for most field work made me think of what it must have been like for my father’s and grandfather’s generation. Are there any retired farmers, or for that matter, ranchers, that remember putting in their wheat and barley? Or preparing hay ground for the season, that remember not fertilizing? That is right, no commercial fertilizer.

That probably meant there was no need for soil samples, etc. That leads to another thought. How did they decide the ground temap was right for planting? In my early days on the farm I never paid attention to the details of putting in a crop, but it is my understanding that fertilizing was not always part of planting. Maybe that generation used or recycled manure for fertilizer, as I do remember seeing manure spreaders sitting in the equipment yard. Of course even spreading manure has become much more sophisticated than that old pull type spreader. Remember, no cabs on tractors and often spreaders were pulled with horses. So if you get stressed with the planting season, just count your blessings and remember how it was.