Fun Jobs on the Farm
The first job I remember doing in the field that involved driving a tractor was raking hay. It was aboard my mom’s 1942 B John Deere. The little B was easy for a youngster to handle. Once again I was mesmerized by the snappy “pop-pop” sound of the B’s two cylinders. I still like raking hay, I don’t know if it because of the sweet smell of the freshly cut hay or the memories of mom’s John Deere “B.”
Another job that I remember that involved a tractor was cultivating corn. One year planted 65 acres of corn for silage.(This was a large amount of crop for us!) One of my jobs was cultivating the corn with that same 1942 B John Deere with a two-row,front mounted, hand lift cultivator. Of course the first time over was painstakingly slow-using low gear. The second trip over was better! Finally the third trip was downright fun. The corn by now was tall enough to brush the axles as I passed by…..in THIRD GEAR!!
Another story, a humorous story involving that B John Deere was an afternoon on the dump rake. We had opened up a hayfield and gotten swamped by rain. Just to get the spoiled hay off the field, my friend, Dave Hamm and I were sent out to bunch up the hay and eventually burn it. Well, I neglected to mention that neither of us had really used a dump rake before. Unaware of the foot pedal that auto matically lifted the rake teeth, every time the rake was full I grabbed the hand lever and lifted with all my might. One in a while Dave would stop the little B and help me lift the lever because the dump rake was so full of heavy hay. As we finished the field I accidentally pushed the foot pedal and “Swoosh”, up came the dump rake all by itself! Dad never let me forget that one. He reminds me often of how Angel, my sister 10 years my junior, was able to run the dumprake with no problems the day prior to my adventure. Oh well, like I said earlier…..I still like to rake hay!!
How about a little tractor trivia!
1. The John Deere 50 replaced what model?
2. The John Deere 60 replaced what model?
3. The John Deere 70 replaced what model?
4. The John Deere 80 replaced what model?
5. Was there ever a John Deere model 40?
Answers: 1. B 2. A 3. G 4. R 5. Yes, it replaced the model M
Eric Mickelson
Green Magazine
RIchard's Publishing
Oklee, MN 56742
218-791-9157