Kosciusko Groups Bind Wheat Old-Fashioned Way Ahead Of SummerFest
An antique wheat binder operated by Delbert Slaybaugh was used recently to harvest and bind wheat the old-fashioned way near Clunette. Members of the Echoes of the Past antique farm implement club and Warsaw FFA participated. Two wagonloads of wheat were collected and will be threshed at an event in August. Photos provided by the Echoes of the Past.
News Release
CLUNETTE — The Echoes of the Past antique tractor club spent the afternoon of Tuesday, July 11, binding wheat the old-fashioned way in a field on CR 825N in Clunette.
Members of the club along with members of the Warsaw FFA used an antique wheat binder, piloted by Delbert Slaybaugh, to harvest and bind four-tenths of an acre of wheat, loading two and a half wagons to be threshed at the SummerFest event to be held in Claypool in August.
After the wheat was bound, six tractor club and four FFA members used pitchforks to toss the wheat to someone who was waiting atop the wagons for stacking. This first step in the process took about two hours. The next step of threshing the two wagons of bound wheat will take an additional three hours. When compared with today’s method of harvesting, which actually threshes the wheat as it goes, that amount of acreage would be done in mere minutes today.
To see the thresher in action, plan to attend the SummerFest, located at the corner of County Farm Road and CR 700S in Claypool. The event will take place from noon to 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 4, and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 5.
The old-fashioned wheat gathering event took place in a field near Clunette on Tuesday, July 11.
After the wheat was bound, workers used pitchforks to toss the stacks onto wagons.
Harvesting and binding four-tenths of an acre of wheat took about two hours.
The wheat that was collected in July will be threshed at SummerFest in Claypool in August. Threshing that much wheat will take about three hours.
Modern harvesting methods can cut and thresh four-tenths of an acre of wheat in a few minutes, compared with the several hours it takes doing it the old-fashioned way.