Elephants have their own
grave yard and 3rd shift workers have their grave yard shift. On the
farm we have our own equipment grave yard. I made a pilgrimage back to "The
Thicket" again earlier today and this time I took my digital camera with
me to take pictures of our old equipment grave yard.
These days most everyone
is into environmental stuff and recycling. Back in the old days we never even
heard of these terms. However, we did "recycle" stuff, we just didn't
call it that then nor were we conscious of it. We would "recycle"
corn cobs to burn in our old cook stove in the kitchen and old rags to crochet
rugs from. My Grandmother Ollie taught me how to crochet when I was very young
and I even made a few small throw rugs from "recycled" rags. We also
saved bacon grease and lard to use in cooking. Oh, horror of horrors for these cholesterol
conscience days! Hey, If you have never had a fried egg cooked with bacon
grease in a cast iron frying pan, then you haven't lived! What a great taste
from our childhood, a fried egg sandwich with catsup. As a matter of fact, just
the other day for lunch I fried up an egg in bacon grease in an old cast iron
frying pan for a fried egg sandwich with catsup on it. I don't believe in being
Hedonistic, but when I eat one of these, I must admit I'm tip toeing very close
to the border line of self-gratification! Once and a great while I do indeed
come close to violating my "eat to live and not live to eat"
philosophy. Things today cooked in TeflonŽ type lined pans just don't taste
nearly the same or as good as the old cast iron pans we always used as kids.
That's why I cook a lot in good old seasoned cast iron these days. This is
especially true since I have weaned myself from pop and microwave
"meals". I'm getting back to the basics. Hey, what's with this new
trend of frying a turkey for Thanksgiving? I wouldn't ever fry a turkey since
it wouldn't taste the same as an oven baked one. It is recommended that the
turkey be fried outside due to safety reasons. What! No smell of a turkey
baking in the oven? That would violate the custom and spirit of Thanksgiving as
far as I'm concerned. Well, I'd better get back to the basics of the subject at
hand or there could be "grave" consequences! J
These days when one
recycles steel and other metals, they take them to a "recycling
plant". In our day we called them junk yards. When we were growing up on
the farm, we never hauled scrap iron to the junk yard. We just parked old worn
out farm equipment and scrap iron out of sight back in our thicket. We also had
another smaller place where we parked smaller worn out equipment and other
scrap iron. Years ago, Uncle Ned and us hauled all the scrap iron that was in
our smaller graveyard back to the thicket. The reason we did this was because
our Grandmother Ollie, who also lived here, was always nagging us to clean up
the place. She would berate us and tell us, "This
place looks like Hillbilly Haven"!
After hearing this repeatedly, we finally got rid of all the junk and hauled it
back to the thicket to the "equipment grave yard" where it was out of
sight and out of mind, HER sight and mind! Interestingly, our small junk yard
was right on the very spot where my house is now! Since I don't believe in
taking farm land out of production to build houses, I built my modest little
house on the same spot because it can't be farmed due to shallow sandstone,
hence, I have no basement. Since the thicket has grown up with trees over the
years, we can't take old worn out farm equipment and scrap iron back there
anymore. As a result, Tim and I started our own "equipment and scrap iron
grave yard" some years ago on the other side of the field directly across
from "The Thicket". It's also out of sight. We call it "Zemke
Land". We call it this name after a guy we know down the road who has
acres of old junk farm equipment right behind his house. Permit me to take a
small sidetrack at this juncture (my goodness, this is the first time I've ever
asked to go an yet another of my famous sidetracks during a story!) At
any rate, I simply must relate an
amusing anecdote here. Some years ago we needed a part for our corn planter and
we went to see Mr. Zemke to see if he had the same model. He said he did and he
accompanied us back through the massive acres of old rusty farm equipment. I'll
bet there's at least 5 acres or more of old equipment lined up that he has
purchased or somehow acquired over the years. We found the very model amid all
the old corn planters and acres of other junk and ask him if he would sell us
the part we needed if we took it off ourselves. He said, "Gee, I don't think I could, I might need that planter some
day". It was ironic for Tim and I to notice there was a tree of at
least 10 inches in diameter growing up right through the planter! I guess he
didn't believe in recycling either! Tim and I still chuckle over this story. Thus,
we call our new generation junk yard "Zemke Land". Heaven only knows
why he has purchased or acquired all that old junk equipment over the years
just to let it all sit in countless rows to rust! There are literally hundreds
of pieces of old junk equipment there! I just can't understand eccentric people.
ALL RIGHT! NO COMMENTS FROM THE "PEANUT GALLERY"!!!
I love to go back to our
old original equipment grave yard in the thicket to view the old rusted farm
equipment and reminisce about the old days when we were kids and the equipment
was new. The old one row New Idea corn picker is there. It was purchased new in
1946 (2 years before Tim and I were born.) It costs 1,000 dollars and was hard
to get right after the World War 2 years. I have no idea how our father, Uncle
Ned, and Grampa Tillinghast were able to get it or pay for it. I gleaned this
information from our Grandmother Ollie's diaries which she called her "Day
Books". The old International 76 Combine is there too. I also have vivid
memories of using that to harvest wheat, soy beans, and occasionally rye. It's
interesting to note that the belts that are still on the pulleys have not
rotted away after all these years and the tires are still in reasonably good
shape. This is amazing since both pieces of equipment have been sitting back
there for over 40 years! Back in those days they really built things to last!
Although there is much rust and the thinner pieces have rusted away in spots,
the equipment is still solid and there's even some paint left on most of it
albeit, it is quite faded. Speaking of solid equipment, this summer I
accidentally backed my Jeep Wrangler into My daughter's car which was parked
off to the side behind the Jeep. I was in a hurry, which is rare for me, to get
to the post office by noon and I only had about 10 minutes to get there. I
totally wiped out the whole left side of her car. The only damage to the Jeep
was a slightly crushed license plate holder. My daughter Tess was so impressed
with the Jeep being so solid, that she shortly thereafter bought a Jeep
Wrangler too! Way to go!!! If she lived here, we would probably tow her damaged
car back to our "Equipment Grave Yard". Hmmm, I wonder, if one
invests in a junk yard do you have "junk" bonds? Well, I guess this
concludes this "junk"et.
I've really started to
reminisce a lot the last few years, which comes with age. I'm thankful that my
long term memory is so sharp. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for my short
term memory! Regrettably, that comes with age too! L
