FALL FESTIVAL

One of the highlights of this past weekend’s “Fall Festival” at Howell Farm was a 10-ton Case steam engine powering a large wheat thresher. The spelt grain that was threshed will be used as horse feed, and the leftover stalks will be used as straw for bedding.

According to farm historians, these giant wheat threshing rigs and their crews rumbled through the Mercer County countryside circa 1900, stopping at all the local farms who hired out their services. An alternate plan some farmers employed was to commune with their neighbors to buy a shared thresher, which they took turns using.

Below are a few pictures of the action. Follow this link for a lot more (though unedited) shots taken at the festival:

http://picasaweb.google.com/JTFlesher/FallFestival#