Photo courtesy of the Bill Smiley Archives A local farmer harvests his crop with a John Deere tractor and combine, circa 1930. I have a confession to make. I love the month of October.
If not my favourite month, it certainly rests within the top three of my favourite months. Oh, I know that it is a harbinger of what is to come, the cold and snow and ice, and all those things which we love to moan about. But it tends to be the best time for football.
The CFL is nearing its zenith, the NFL is beginning to sort the best from the worst, and university and college football is sorting the wheat from the chaff. Speaking of which, I enjoy drives in the country in October. If the harvest is not complete, it is nearing completion, especially when we have weather like we have enjoyed this autumn.
My thoughts tend to stray to how different farming is today from the “early” years. I think about James Isbister, growing crops with his family on fields in what is now the west flat of Prince Albert, and then hauling the wheat by cart all the way to the Red River (Winnipeg) to be milled. I think about how in 1868, the land where the Arts Centre and City Hall now stand was a field of grain.
Wheat varieties and equipment is so much different now than in those days, as is the life of the farmer. But like then, farmers of today are still dependent upon the weather and other enemies such as invasive disease and scavenging animals. Farmers tend to rely more on mechanization today than the did in.