Then and now

Our 30 acres had belonged to the Porterfield family for generations, we are still surrounded by this family, our plot the only part sold off in their midst.  Adjacent to this property is the Hoge family property, my grandfather's family.  He was born not 4 miles from our home about 120 years ago and there are still a few of his family up here, still owning more acreage than I can comprehend.  My mother sold off her share to her family when I was a very small child.  Though I was born up here, I was raised across the state on the coast.

When we purchased this property, it had an old barn and tucked into the back corner of one of the bays, was some old farm equipment.  Today with the help of our neighbor and his son, both Porterfields, we cleared the bay, took down a couple of old gates and removed the equipment from where it has been stored for decades.


Horse drawn Corn plow

Horse drawn Hay rake

Equipment wheel of some sort

Cross cut saw driven by a belt to an old tractor flywheel ( this piece was in the brush that was cleared last summer and we dragged it to it's present location with our tractor)

Our plan for these pieces is purely decorative, clean the rust, oil the wood, possibly paint the metal and use them for display.

We also found the old yoke that attached these piece to the horses and it will be cleaned, oiled and hung under the shelter of our front porch.

It is amazing after watching the haying to think of the labor that was involved using the old equipment.

Modern equipment makes the job so much faster and easier like other modern conveniences, but it too varies.  Below is our 28 hp tractor with bucket and brush hog that accomplishes most of the work we do on the farm.

And this is the behemoth that was used to pull the mower and baler that made 82 large round bales of hay in less than 24 hours.