This past Thursday evening I had the pleasure of watching members of the Cedar County Historical Society plant sweet corn and field corn the “old fashioned way,” with a horse team and an antique two-row planter. It was a fascinating demonstration, and a reminder that in the overall evolution of agriculture these methods of our grandparents aren’t so far removed. Yet in a world of 600 horse power tractors and 48 row planters, this is clearly a scene from a bygone era; and a piece of our heritage that we should be grateful the CCHS is working to preserve.
I’ll let the photos do the talking, and this is only the first batch with more to come. You can watch for the others to be posted here on this blog in coming days, as well as on the Hardacre Community Garden Facebook page.
I would like to give a big thanks to Keith, Bob, and Alice Whitlatch, Denny Dykstra, Teresa Reed, Mike Boyle and others who helped on this evening or are involved with the Cedar County Historical Society for their hard work in maintaining our cultural legacy, and for inviting me out to document this story in photos. I look forward to following up on this and other projects, and to sharing them with our Hardacre Community Garden family over the course of this summer and into the future.
Hardacre Community Garden 