Harvest Party at Paul DeShaw's Farm

Joe visits the Paul de Shaw farm near Carroll, Iowa where Paul puts on this living history event every year on the second Saturday in September. Paul grew up with draft horses and wants to show others how things were done on the farm then. He is helped by other families and their draft horses and mule teams. Vintage JC Allen photos are interspersed with the live action in this video, nicely comparing how these farming techniques were used long ago. The first thing they do is hitch a mule and horse team to pull a bangboard wagon out to the corn field to hand shuck corn. Next Paul hitches his draft mule and horse to a sweep that powers a belt driven corn sheller. He uses the same sweep and teams connected to a grist mill to grind the corn into a fine meal. Men use giant paddles to cook apples down making apple butter in a giant cast iron cauldron. Next we head out to the sorghum field and are instructed on the proper way to harvest the sorghum stalks. They are then taken to the farm where a single team is hooked to a sweep which powers the sorghum press. The juice is then boiled in a large pan over wood fire until it thickens to a syrup. A slling and trolley system is demonstrated at the barn to lift and place hay in the hay mow. Lastly, a vintage tractor is used to power the belt driven threshing machine.