Published: June 28, 2007 10:07 am         

Old Fashioned Farming Day coming

It is time for the third Annual Old Fashioned Farming Day, which will be held at 6450 W. 275 North, Shipshewana, on the farm of Mervin Yoder

Demonstrations at the Farming Day show how neighbors helped neighbors farm when the work could not be done alone.

Yoder is a collector of antique equipment and this is his way of preserving the equipment and reliving the way farming use to be done. Farming Day is an all-day event, and will take place July 28, from 9 to 4 p.m..

Yoder and his volunteer teams will demonstrate wheat threshing, corn threshing, hay loading with a hay loader, hay cutting with a Peck cutter, buzz sawing wood and crosscut sawing.

Some of the equipment that will be demonstrated will include an antique wooden threshing machine used in the 1920s, a miniature threshing machine, and a steam engine coming from Allen County, and a Rumely Oil Pull machine.

There will be numerous John Deere 2-cylinder tractors used to power the machines mentioned above. There will also be a barrel train to give children rides, hay wagon rides, homemade ice cream making, and milk and cream demonstrations. Those attending may also try their hand at shelling corn with a corn shelling machine, or pitch horseshoes, a very popular game played in the old days.

The families of Meadowview Elementary School will be preparing food for the event, which will include soup prepared in an open kettle hanging on a tripod over a fire, sandwiches, smoothies, popcorn, and home made ice cream.

For additional information call (260) 768-4986.