Last week, I fantasized about the conversations “Old Iron” might have if it could talk. That was all in imaginative fun.
So, this week it’s a bit of serendipity that my friend Canby Handy ran across an “Old Iron” story in Oklahoma that really does “speak family memories” for its owner, Douglas Conrady.
Canby sent me a story about Conrady and his old iron that wuz published in the Oklahoma Living magazine. Giving credit, it wuz written by Hayley Leatherwood.
The gist of the story is that Conrady, from Wakita, Okla., has spent his “fun” time during the past few decades tracking down old tractors and farm machinery that wuz bought and used by his ancestors — and then restoring the “old iron” to working condition and putting it to work in his little farm.
Conrady, an engineering technician for the Alfalfa Electric Cooperative, can tell you what his grandfather paid for a tractor in 1941 — $982 — and he’s got the checks and contract to prove it. Apparently, his Grandpa never threw anything away and the written record speaks clearly.
That tractor, a 1941 John Deere Model D — a Johnny Popper — is still with the family. More remarkably, it’s still running.
Conrady’s interest in mechanical things traces back to his high school years when he discovered fun in nuts and bolts. He remembers clearly the first time he helped dig out the 1941 D from where it sat “retired” on the family farm near Wakita. He, his dad, uncle and grandpa restored it in 1993, launching what would become a lifelong obsession.
The Model D wasn’t the only green machine to capture his attention. His collection now includes tractors spanning from 1930 to 1962, many with personal ties. These include his maternal grandfather’s 1936 D, now paired with a plow from his wife’s family. Another came from his grandfather’s extended family. And yet another was restored five years ago after a conversation with his uncle.
The family legacy is preserved in paint and spark plugs and it’s alive in the work Conrady and his dad do together. They enjoy the restoration work on the family’s “old iron.”
Then last summer, Conrady took things up a notch. He fired up a tractor, hooked it to a 1940s combine, and took it out to harvest a field of wheat outside Wakita. The combine, an Allis-Chalmers Model 40, holds just 11 bushels of grain. Built before World War II, it threshed wheat just as well as it did 80 years ago.
For fun, he posted the impromptu harvest on Facebook and the community’s response was immediate. So next time he “went public,” and 50 people came to watch Conrady and his restored combine harvest just one acre. It got rave reviews.
The combine, which he bought at auction from a relative of his wife’s family, likely cost $345 when it was brand new. Out of 15,000 made, only a handful are still in operation. But using it means repairing it, too. When one of the wooden bats on the header broke, he didn’t look online for a replacement — he made it himself.
The harvest and other public outings provides a slice of pioneer life that comes alive with blacksmithing, plowing, threshing, and saw-milling. It’s a reminder that progress doesn’t always mean forgetting where you came from.
Conrady concluded his story with this quote: “These tractors will outlive me — and, honestly, I’d be OK with that.” The “Old Iron” in the Conrady family keeps speaking.
***
Conrady’s mention of an old Allis-Chalmers combine made a part of my childhood speak to me. The first combine the Yield family bought new wuz an AC All-Crop Harvester with a 5-foot header and canvass feeder. That old combine harvested all regular crops excellently, but I recall it also did a fine job of harvesting fluffy, lighter-than-air native grass seed. I’m not a gear-head, but I do remember that old combine fondly.
***
While the topic for the week is old and ancient, I’ll throw into the mix ways you can tell whether or not you are an “old” farmer or rancher.
You are definitely an old farmer when you complain about the way “that darned kid” does farm or ranch work and “that darned kid” is older than 50.
You are an old rancher when you have the sniffles and you think about the cost and inconvenience of making and keeping an appointment with your doctor, so you seriously consider self-vaccination from the bottle of antibiotics you see in your old dusty refrigerator in the shop.
You are an old farmer when you can vividly recall stacking small square hay bales in a stifling hot tin barn with a hay hook.
You are an old farmer if you can recall using a scythe or a weed whip to cut weeds.
You are an old farmer or rancher, if when you turn the bulls out with the heifers, you sadly think about your granddaughter away at college.
***
I read last week about an urban Home Owner’s Association that now requires that if a home owner finds a pile of dog poop in the yard, and the source is unknown, it can require a DNA test of the poo to see whose dog made the mess. That way a fine can be assessed to the wayward dog’s owner. That’s the lunacy that urban life has fallen to.
***
Words of wisdom for the week: “Judging is easy. Thinking is hard. So, think before you judge.” Have a good ‘un.
