I can remember that we used horses to Drag Timber and those same horses pulled the hay sleds. We cut with a scythe and when dried it went on the Horse sled and then went on the Hay stack. We did not have the money for a tractor and a Hay Baler until I was in High School.

Man you are old. lol My dad just turned 87 and he has briefly talked about working horses when he was younger before they got a jitterbug.

Sometimes after walking beans we would go to the gravel pit that had a rope swing and jump into the water, clothes, shoes and all. I remember hosing off my shoes a few times and set them out to dry, then we'd do it all again the next day.

Coming to the end of the rows every 2-3 hours the farmer's wives would bring a jug of koolaid and cookies. Man the noon meal was usually amazing. Depending on the weather, we would work mornings, evenings or all day.

If you got a reputation as a good worker, which my sister and I did, you could go from one farm to the next. We made a lot of money for several summers walking beans. We didn't carry a hoe, we pulled. There was always work, just depended on how much money you wanted to make. Sometimes I would walk beans in the morning and stack hay on the rack in the afternoon.

Wish kids today could experience those times, it would completely change their perspective on life.

Thank a lawyer because they don’t.

There is a poem, I wish I could find it. Part of it goes like this:

I can never remember being bored growing up in Iowa
Every day was a race against the sun

Anyone familiar with it?

"Wheel hoed" uncountable miles. Japenses truck farm crops in the Puyallup Valley; lettuce, cabbage, radish, etc..

Yep, all of the above, we raised and butchered / processed everything we consumed, spent many a day with hoe in hand ! We also hunted and fished for a much craved variety in our food , my mother could build the meanest rabbit/squirrel potpie you ever sank your canines into, I can smell that old kitchen to this day ! I even remember one fall was so wet we had to hand pick some small lower lying corn fields, fill a gunny sack, throw it over your shoulder and hump it back to the corn wagon, in ankle deep red clay mud !! Try to get someone to help you do that theses day's, good luck ! I get a chuckle at the term " Homesteading" shoot we were homesteading and didn't even know it, I think it was called surviving ?

I remember cultivating with a 2 row cultivator and going slow at a crawl and every insect esp. those little green leaf hoppers biting me. We also had sleeping sickness carried by skeeters that was a worry. Volunteer corn was always something that had to be dealt with by hand. I had a hook my dad made out of a old mower section. I could hook them coming to me or cut pushing away from me. The first thing I bought when I was 18 and went to the big city and got a descent paying job, was a 4 row cultivator.
Now days we have $50 patented bean seed and $40 worth of round up, liberty, enlist or what ever flavor suits your fancy. Of course then you can have neighbor issues. Most neighbors are considerate of wind conditions but most commercial sprayers don't nor won't wait for ideal conditions and they say, we have insurance, sue us.
Any way with all the extra expense now days, there is still weeds that seem to genetically out smart the herbicides and beg for a hoe.

We had to walk the fields as a kid, but when I turned 17, I was dating a girl of about 15. Neighbor who didn't have any kids to use for forced labor asked me to ask her if she had any friends he could hire to work the fields. Turns out she did. One thing lead to another and it evolved into this deal where I went to town around 7am, and drove around picking up about half a dozen girls. Took them to the fields where we worked until about noon, then drove them back to town. Took them to the Dog N Suds and bought them all a Coke, then took them all home. Did I mention they were working on their tans all morning? 50 years later and some of them still talk about that when I see them. Nothing tawdry, just happy times doing hard work in the sun.

BTW, I found it best to wear those boots dry. Didn't get as stiff.

For those longing to chance to haul hay, will be starting in about 5 weeks. Got about half a dozen kids lined up, and it is funny how it works. Some kids won't last a day and others are happy doing it. Likely as not, some of those happy to do it are still the girls.

I hired an 18 year old to drive a tractor and pull baby pigs. Small hands just work better. Anyway I thought I could get cheaper labor just to marry her, boy was I wrong, a womans up keep has a lot of hidden cost, lol. But on the bright side, she can cook too, lol !

I baled hay, walked beans and detasseled corn while growing up. It was a great way to make money and lots of good memories.

BTW, when Round Up first came out, there were no Round Up ready crops. That had to come later. The way that started out was to use wick type applicators........sponge or rope.......saturated with the spray.........on a horizontal boom, that was lowered just enough to clear the beans............but not touch them. Any weeds or volunteer corn that stuck up above the bean canopy would get some spray wiped on it, and that was enough to kill em. That process is still used today for some crops.

Growing up on a fam in the 1960's meant if you could do it you where working at whatever a going on . Picking rocks along with getting bitten by the ants that would be on the underside of them . Checking the pasture fence once a week to keep it in good repair and working order Digging out thistles with a hand shovel Using a hand seed spreader to plant clover and timothy seeding the fields in spring The grass was either a cover crop or next years hay fields mowing the yard with a push mower Helping with the making of hay and straw Two summers I would spend the whole week at mt sisters farm Mon thru Sat Starting at about 5:30 AM TO 9:00 PM was a normal day Making hay and straw tending livestock making cattle feed where some of the weekly jobs I got 3 meals a day and a bed to sleep on . And the weekly pay was $10.00 But that was my hunting and trapping money A license a couple of boxes of assorted ammo and if I did not spend money foolishly maybe a couple of Victor # 1 long springs Who ever said they where the good old days .l

Growing up on a strawberry farm I had a hoe in my hands all spring from a young age. Also picked pole beans in August for 3.25 cents a lb....half penny bonus if you stayed the whole season. That money mostly went to buy school clothes.

cucumbers, taters, squash, okra, watermelons, cantalope....................and Thank God we had to do it. Taught us how to raise our own food. Taught the satisfaction of doing things right. Most important, we learned how to work. And at night, we hauled hay. Our dad was overseas a lot in the late 60's through the late 70's maybe 1981. There were four boys in our family and a cousin my parents raised. we had a great uncle that was more like, naw, he and his wife were the grandparents we never had. Our great uncle was in the 82nd airborn and made the D day jump. One leg was severed from flak and the other was in bad shape. But he survived being captured. In the absence of our dad, Uncle Dick taught us about life. How to farm, how to tend to cattle and horses, how to tend to a garden. How not to sas your mother. We learned that pretty quick. He also taught us how to hunt, to shoot a slingshot and how to not take stupid shots on game if you may wound them or miss. One of the Greatest men I have ever known and will forever cherish our time together. His wife was a straight up coonarse from around Slidell. They met in a military hospital when he was brought back to the US upon being freed from a German POW camp.

As they aged, my youngest brother and I made sure we brought them fresh vegetables, wild game and mowed their yard. Planted their garden for them and did our dead level best to repay their love and time in which they gave us in abundance.

now we have bio engineered crops that feed mankind.....which cannot be a good thing. Kida are to fat and lazy (not all of them) to walk/pull and their parents (not all of them) would think it was cruel to have them do it..and most folks call that progress..

I agree with you Marty. didnt kill me and my brothers. We also never stayed in the house unless it was a near death experience. All year long there was plenty to deal with outside, Chickens, cutting firewood, finding and toting rich lighter pine to the house. Mowing, raking the yard, cooking and I was the chef.

Now they sit and play video games, so do quite a few adults....and we probably better not talk about the drug abuse problems...or the fact that so many want to talk boys into being girls..

There is an old song by the musical group Led Zepplin that starts out with "In the days of my youth I was told what it is to be a man" If myself and my sisters and brothers where told to do something we did it I had more sisters than brothers but a few times my Mom told me to help with the dishes It was not a request .It was a statement of fact that I would help . She was very fair minded. Easy to get along with and willing to help us out But when it was time to work she was in charge It was no nonsense She said what she meant and meant what she said .We had little money so we often made due And she did not take backtalk And if we where out of line she dealt with the problem in quick fashion And what generally was next when Dad got home he was filled in on the problem and sometimes it got a second reminder as far as who was making decisions and who was following orders .I value the upbringing I had because it taught me lessons that made it possible to succeed in life Hard work and earning the things you have will get you through life .Making excuses and expecting others to cover for you and thinking the world owes you something is why there are so many unhappy people in society today I remember helping my grandfather giving me a nickel for helping him pick up worms so he could go fishing... At about 10 years old I set my first trapline I got a few rats and one was worth .90cents unskinned at the nearby fur buyer If we ask for a quarter to buy some candy we where not allowed to spend money that way Now a kid ask their Mom for a $20.00 because you don't have much to show for it in a fast food restaurant Like I said in an earlier post who said the 50 's and 60.s where not the good old days