Page 9 - The Farming Years proof

FARMInG FULFILLMEnT
The peas and beans were allowed to get dry then harvested for cattle and pig feed.
So, how did I t in? I turned up at the farm on my bike as arranged with Bernard. You can’t be of much use on a farm if you can’t drive a tractor so the rst thing he did was leave me on my own in a eld to teach myself to drive a tractor. He knew I had a good idea and it worked. It must have been after we came back from our August family holiday because ploughing was happening. I had a lesson from Bernard on ploughing and was left to it. I was using a Ford- son Major tractor with a Ransome 3 furrow plough that had been reduced to two furrows to deal with the clay and the hills.
There was wet straw about from the harvest – Bernard was not a tidy farmer – and the ploughing operation was anticipating bury- ing this under the furrow as the plough share turned it over. So I soon had my second lesson – it doesn’t always work. Within an hour the plough had clogged with straw and I had been looking forward rather than back. I had to tidy it up by going over it again and kept looking back to ensure no blockage. I spent the Christ- mas holiday ploughing as well. It is a slow job with 2 furrows but to plough a eld well with straight furrows is a very satisfying sight.
My winter attire was my father’s ancient driving coat which was leather with a marvellous wool lining. I was never cold in spite of tractors not having cabs. I think the coat was at least 30 years old. The cultivating and drilling all happened in the school spring term during my absence.
The next activity that tted into the Easter holidays was thrash- ing. A contractor undertook this process with a thrashing machine which was about 20'x10'x8' in size. The sheaves were taken from the stack which was made initially with the corn end of the sheaves to the in-side of the stack so you picked them up to a pattern and put them into the top of the thresher. The power for the operation
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