EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a weekly series on our region’s history coordinated by the Trumbull County Historical Society.

My father was a dairy farmer located one mile south of Mespo Commons.

Dad paid $18,00 to $20,000 for 125 acres that he bought on a handshake at Middlefield Bank. The barn floor upstairs was smooth and polished and Dad said people had barn dances.

There was no house on the land when Dad and Mom bought it. They lived across the street where Dad had bought some land with a house on it. When my brother Allen was 3 years old, he was hit buy a car crossing the road, so Dad built a house and sold the one across the street.

Hay making time was a busy time. Dad would have these two huge hay forks, and the hay would be pulled up to the hay mow with a big pulley. Then he got a hay baler, which was a little easier.

If it looked like rain and the hay bales needed to be put in the barn, I would drive horses and wagon and one of my brothers would throw the bales on the wagon. Then we’d put them on an elevator (ran by a gasoline motor) and the elevator would take the hay bales up to the hay mow. Another brother would be in the hay mow stacking bales.

When you put up hay, you got very hot. So when I was done I would sit in the horse’s water trough (it was a big tank). Although dirty, it sure cooled me off.

August was threshing time and neighborhood farmers shared a threshing machine. The straw would come out on me at the end, and the wheat would come out the side. I would go in the wheat wagon and sink my bare feet in the wheat. The stacks in the field looked like little teepees. When we threshed, Mom would make a big lunch for all the threshers. After the harvest, everyone would get together for homemade ice cream.

In the fall, it was time to harvest the corn. We would go out in the field with the horses and wagon and cut down the corn. It was then fed through a “corn feeder” where you fed the corn in bundles through a machine with a conveyor belt that would blow the silage into a silo. This fed the livestock in the winter.

Our farm dog was Shep, who was like a hired hand. Dad would tell him go get the cows a quarter mile away early in the morning. She would bring them up to the barn by herself.

One time, Dad happened to be alone in the barn and two guys stopped out by the road and started walking to the barn where Dad was standing. Dad knew they were up to no good when Shep came and stood beside Dad, growled, and these men took off running as fast as they could go. Shep made life on the farm a little easier.

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

CLEVELAND — The Community West Foundation has gifted Malachi House with one of six statues in the Matthew 25 ...

FREE CONCERT: Guiding Light Presbyterian Church, formerly First Presbyterian, Churchill Road, Girard, will host a ...

NILES — Members of the recently closed SS. Cyril and Methodius Church gathered to share memories and stories of ...

• TRUMBULL COUNTY METROPARKS BOARD will meet 4:15 p.m. today at the park offices, 3983 N. River Road, Howland or ...

• LORDSTOWN VILLAGE COUNCIL will meet 6 p.m. today at the village municipal building. • CORTLAND CITY COUNCIL ...

HOWLAND PARK COMMISSIONERS will meet 9:30 a.m. today at the Wright Bulding at the park to discuss disc ...

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

Copyright © Tribune Chronicle | https://www.tribtoday.com | 240 Franklin Street SE, Warren, OH 44483 | 330-841-1600