Richard Shank
Columnist
A July 2 visit to the Shank farm near New Cambria in Saline County confirmed that Rural America is surviving another wheat harvest. I had planned to write about this year’s harvest, but rains late in June delayed the (Continued on page 4)
(SHANK Continued from page 1) wheat cutting on the Shank farm past the deadline for submitting this week’s column, so here is Plan B.
The farmers I spoke with are reluctant to claim the three-year draught we have been dealing with in north central Kansas is over, but there is plenty of evidence it is subsiding. The corn, milo and soybeans are looking good entering July, the hottest month of the year. We planted a new lawn surrounding the home and may have lucked out doing so.
Sometime ago, and for no reason, it seemed like the time to give the original farm shop a thorough cleaning, and inventory what remains in a building used primarily these days for storage.
The shop saw its origin in the 1930s on another farmstead located one and a half miles north of the Shank farm. Nearly 90 years ago, the building was moved to what is now the Shank farm and, although the structure is showing every bit of its age, it continues to remain, for the most part, upright thanks in part to a new roof that was installed in 2003. As a visitor told me one day, it looks like it just refuses to fall down.
In 2005, I opted for a new and more modern shop; but, five years later had outgrown the 96-square-foot structure. In 2010, a Kansas State Fair vendor’s offer for a 192-square-foot building, with a loft, and free delivery became the deal this part-time farmer could not resist.
If the walls of the old shop could talk, they might report of farmers meeting here to complain about the Secretary of Agriculture and the latest government farm program, the lack of moisture, flooding and then switch to neighborhood gossip. The building had a chimney, making one assume it was once heated, and there is evidence it had been wired for electricity, meaning this outbuilding may have been the 1930s version of high tech.
A long shop table with a vice, is well coated with oil and grease, which is reaffirmation of hours repairing engines or replacing plow shears. The old vice still works like it always did. Beneath the table are several tubs full of bolts, along with a few generators thrown in for good measure.
Several discoveries provided little explanation including a bucket full of nails, a rake with an eight-foot handle, and an axe with a broken handle that had been taped back together, an obvious attempt of my dad getting his money’s worth out of everything. Other discoveries included a tool box from a pull combine, an old fashioned grinder and a bread box.
In some ways, the cleanup was a trip down memory lane including the discovery of an antique cream separator and an assortment of car jacks, all of which seemed to be in working condition, along with the remains of a well-worn pedal tractor. Over the years, the owners had pounded a plentiful supply of nails in the walls for hanging everything from tools to worn out implement belts and combine sprockets. Then there were trucking tags looking as new as the day they were attached to a farm truck, including a 1962 and 1975 tag.
Two heating stoves have been stored in the shop for more than 50 years and both were given new homes, one to a local salvage yard and the other (manufactured in about 1938) was moved to another shed on the farm for safe keeping. From outward appearance, the stove looked like it might still function.
When unexpected noise interrupted the cleanup, it made me aware that some critter had taken up residence in the old shop, and wondering if it might be anything from a snake to a bobcat. To my surprise, a possum, made a quick exit out of the south door and sought refuge in a nearby soybean field.Two humorous stories come to mind about this shop. When a previous owner of the farm purchased a vehicle which was a little longer than the shop, he knocked out a six-foot wide spot on the north wall and built an extension just long enough to house the front of a pickup.
Then, during the 1980s, a tree sprouted up on the north side of the building and my dad wanted to save both; so, he hired a professional moving company to relocate the building six feet south of its original location, where it remains to this day. In those distant times, a little ingenuity solved many problems.
A previous owner placed planks in the beams of the ceiling and placed a multitude of items up there, which to this day, ranks as the only unexplored part of the farm, 63 years after it came under Shank ownership. And, it just may stay that way.
Following my cleanup of the shop, a layer of crushed rock was placed on the dirt floors and the walls were spray washed, releasing several generations of dust and dirt. Currently, there are no plans to return the shop to its original mission; however, with the added space, instead of one implement, two can now be stored inside the building.
The shop provided more food for thought of a simpler time that the old timers call the “Good Old Days.” A short walk from the old to the new shop confirmed there is no reason to turn back the clock.
