Bits ‘n Pieces, Odds ‘n Ends

As I work around the property and in the barn, I’ve run across a lot of bits and pieces to old farm equipment. I understood that the owner of the farm back in the 1950s and 1960s did some tractor repair. The farm was over 300 acres once, but now we have but a small piece of that land. I’ve found a disc from a wheel harrow, bits of chain, rusty pulleys, horse shoes, and cast iron weights. If you look closely in the barn, our porch, and even the garage, you will find little thermometers with various company names on them. Several trees and posts along the property lines have barbed wire nailed to them. I’ve even found an empty can of Genesee beer (circa mid to late 1970s) in the barn.

I came across a strange item last summer sticking out of the bank in the creek. It looks like some kind of screw-driven mechanism for moving fluids or a slurry. It might be used to grind material. It is made of both metal and wooden parts. It is about 3 ½ feet long. There appears to be a rotating metal parts inside the wooden body. I’ve looked in the library in old farm catalogs to see if I can identify it, but to no avail.

The Whatsit

One of these days I’ll buy a metal detector and poke around the property. I’m sure to find a lot of nails, pull tabs, and other assorted bits of junk. But you never know – I might find more bits ‘n pieces that tell the story of this place.