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Whoooieee: What a stink! Soooieee! Call the hogs! What we call garbage today and spend millions of dollars to dispose of was once called slop and was fed to the [...]

Fencing the land became an obsession with landowners during the late 1860s. Between 1866 and 1868, more than 300 non-barbed wire fence patents were issued. The advent of metal wire [...]

Recently at the Whistle Stop Flea Market in Clarendon, Texas, I found a home-made farm machinery relic dating back to my childhood in about 1939 or 1940. In that day, [...]

One of the toughest annual harvesting chores of the past was 'shocking feed,' and I don't mean an electrical shock either. The dreaded job left everyone working with sore hands, [...]

World War II was raging. Ration cards were a way of life, bountiful grain harvests were desperately needed and the old Dust Bowlera farm equipment was worn out. New equipment [...]

I learned to hate these abominations as a child while playing with toy cars in the driveway. Many an attack on enemy positions while crawling through grass was aborted by [...]

Among the more pleasant memories of my youth are the hours I spent swimming in a large metal water storage tank while living on our farm south of Perryton, Texas. [...]

I've always admired and respected the words of wisdom passed down by my elders. My life has been easier when I adhered to their advice. Now I want to pass [...]

Down through the ages, containment of herds and flocks of domestic stock away from growing crops was always a major problem for farmers and stockmen. As long as native raw [...]

I hear farmers tell of turning plows, moldboard plows, disc harrows, cultivators and all sorts of farm equipment. Although I was born and raised on a Panhandle farm, I know [...]

Among all the tools, 'big boy toys' and old and modern equipment I own today, the most respected and revered tool of all is my tractor-mounted post-hole digger. If you [...]

Many of my columns in the past have been based on personal correspondence, a diary, journal or album, written or kept by a Panhandle resident. Thanks to Bob and Becky [...]

Few things have contributed more to the character and upbringing of our elder Americans than the razor strop. This one- or two-piece weapon, designed and patented to sharpen straight razors, [...]

It's known by several names: bartering, trading, horse trading or just plain old begging. After all is said and done, you tried to buy it cheaper than it was priced. [...]

Among the drawbacks of living out in the country is that, during extremely dry times, the dirt roads have a tendency to form series of small surface ridges that I [...]

Extensive rainwater harvesting efforts several years ago on the Trew Ranch found need for a plow to make small, cow-trail-like furrows in grass turf to guide rainwater into collection areas. [...]

Before the Studebaker Corp. made pointy-nosed cars, the company had a long and interesting history as wagon builders. The Staudenbecker clan of Solingen, Germany, were known as 'blade makers' for [...]

Surveying and measurement of land boundaries dates back at least 5,000 years to riverside communities in the Middle East and Egypt, where parcels of land irrigated during the annual flooding [...]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Amazingly, in all the volumes written about food and nutrition today, gravy is rarely mentioned. The recommended daily diet needed for good health doesn't include gravy, and the [...]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Today, when we see an all-aluminum horse trailer, riding on tandem axles and containing a bed, bath and kitchen for the owners, it's hard to believe this ultra-modern [...]

This photo came from family near Sterling, Colo. No information about the photo was included, so explanations are purely guesswork made from observation. It is wintertime with snow on the [...]

For many collectors, there comes a time when a collection must be laid to rest in one form or another. If you suddenly find yourself with the need to dispose [...]

Fencing the land became an obsession with landowners during the late 1860s. Between 1866 and 1868, more than 300 non-barbed wire fence patents were issued. The advent of metal wire [...]

The significance of the wagon wheel during the early days of the United States cannot be overstated. Whenever the pioneer traveled westward, wagons followed, carrying first supplies and later families [...]

There was a time in the not-so-distant past when most farmsteads, ranches and many city folks kept livestock and poultry to supplement their family food needs. Most of us forget [...]

The date when glass was invented is unknown. One story theorizes that ancient Phoenician merchants built a campfire on a beach and afterward found glass in the ashes. Further research [...]

Recently, while examining the line of old farm and ranch equipment offered at a farm auction, I found all the artifacts necessary to show the evolution of the stock rack. [...]

If you have ever spent a long, hot day on the end of a No. 10 grain scoop, this column should trigger a few memories. After the Dust Bowl ended, [...]

Once upon a time, there was an interval in farm implement history when almost every grain harvesting machine required lengths of wood-slatted canvas to carry the cut stalks into the [...]

Among my early memories as a boy was watching my parents and grandparents consult The Old Farmer's Almanac before commencing any serious work. Whether planting crops, working livestock, planning farm [...]

One of history's most famous hunger catastrophes was the Irish potato famine of 1845-52. The famine caused the death of more than 1 million people; another million emigrated from Ireland [...]

How many Farm Collector readers have ever installed a damper in a stovepipe? How many don't even know what I'm talking about? The damper adjusts the flow of air going [...]

Few recognize the significance of the old-time clothesline. This sentinel of the prairie, standing upright and proud (or maybe crude and unsteady) stood year after year in resolute service to [...]

The first sign of prosperity I can remember at the Trew house was in about 1938, when we laid the first linoleum in the kitchen. The Dust Bowl and Great [...]

During the Great Depression and Dust Bowl i era, entertainment was almost non-existent. The word of the day was 'if it costs money, forget it.' TV was yet to come, [...]

The greatest changes in agriculture came in the 1930s and '40s, when farmers converted from horse-and-team power to tractor farming. After the end of the Dust Bowl and an extended [...]

In the late 1930s, drought, hard times and little money finally ended and our lot on the family farm began to change. The long-sought rains fell and the weeds came. [...]

Of ten we hear mournful references to the scrap iron drives of World War II, as collectors muse about now-scarce antique tractors. I was about 9 years old when Ochiltree [...]

The photo above, dating to about 1900, features a 15-man haying crew in Pennsylvania ready to start work in the fields. Each man has a scythe and several also have [...]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When I see the colorful photos in Farm Collector of old farm machinery being restored today, I can't help but remember the 1940s when much of it was [...]

Whether you are plowing, harvesting, hauling hay or restoring tractors, one thing always brings the work to a halt. When mama runs out of water in the house, the windmill, [...]

Down on the farm, one function always drew a crowd. Whether you spelled it shivaree (like we do down in Texas) or charivari (like the dictionary does), a local, recently [...]

One of my chores as a young boy was to fill lamps in the house with coal oil poured from a gallon can. A small tin funnel made the job [...]

The whys and wherefores of the near-extinction of the buffalo will be long debated with no clear conclusions accepted. Most writings of the time dwell on the waste and carnage; [...]

Early-day travelers crossing the Great Plains said they could travel for days and never see a weed, only tall grass waving in the wind. The first settlers who plowed the [...]

There was a time between root cellars and refrigeration when pressure cookers were used to preserve food. The Great Depression and Dust Bowl were blowing full force, home gardens fed [...]

This third article in a series of what to do with stray pieces in your collection might take a bit more expertise to get the best result. But don't hesitate: [...]

This is the second article in a series discussing ways to display collections. During my 40-plus years of active collecting, I am continually amazed by the imagination and talent of [...]