... it cut it and brought it up on a- a canvas and laid it out and then the- the twine went around it and it tied it in a knot and- and then it kicked it out. Ah, you could get a sheaf catcher that would- k-- and you could drop s-- four, six at a time and then you stood them up in fours or sixes.

Interviewer: So stooking means to dry the hay or- Speaker: T-- to set it up, t-- stooking is to set it up ah ah a sheaf here and a sheaf there when there n-- together like maybe five.

Interviewer 2: And he'd be doing what? Speaker: He- he- he'd be standing up at the- at the barn. And the- the bull was running here. And the- they'd be throwing the sheaves off. And- and ah, Felix would be standing there chewing a straw. And you'd think he was asleep. But he was listening to every move of that mill. Interviewer 1: That piston.

Speaker: And the old thing'd go (makes tractor noises). And when Casey would try to get him going by feeding the mill too fast, and throw- he'd throw two or three sheaves on, and then he'd throw one on crossways. And it was a Goodeson- the Goodeson-Thrashing-Mill was the best mill of the bunch. There was Dyerone thrashers and there was all kinds of thrashers, and this one here was a- a Goodeson. And the reason they were so good- there was a- there was a big drum with spikes on it like that. Ahead of- (clears throat) ahead of the concaves. So when the sheaves went in, it was split and went through the shaker and through the concaves, and it- you got the maximum amount out of it. Well this guy here, he'd overfeed it.

And you- you'd have the old corn binder. And you cut the corn and put it into sheaves. Went out and loaded them, you had people come to help with that. Bring that in, put it in this cut-box, and it was run with a- he had a fifteen-thirty international. And blow it up into the silo.

But the hay mow, or a grain mow like what we- when we were doing stuff and he used to bring ah, the- the grain in with sheaves. And there was slings. Interviewer: Slings? Speaker: And you put a- yeah, you put a sling- the sling was a two-part thing. And it went together with a- with a- a bit in the middle. And you hooked it over the end-gates on the wagon. One there and one here.

And you put a- yeah, you put a sling- the sling was a two-part thing. And it went together with a- with a- a bit in the middle. And you hooked it over the end-gates on the wagon. One there and one here. And you built a row of sheaves. The same as you did with the hay, loose hay. And you put sheaves here. And sheaves here on the wagon. And then you- you- you bound the centre in, but you go this way with one, that way with the other one, and that way with the centre.

... a hayfork that you just chucked into the hay, but this thing here had to start all on a sling, so you took this end and you hooked a rope on there and on here. And when the thing started to lift, it made a round like that, and all the sheaves were in it. And it'd go up and it'd trip.

Speaker: This- this here would be back in thirty-six. And this (inc) and my dad, they're- they're drawn in- that's the- that's trying to tell you- Interviewer: Oh. Speaker: About the sheaves. So they're putting sheaves of grain on to the stook. Stook the grain, that's wheat. So the- the- building ah- Interviewer: So the stook is when they tie it round, is that right? Speaker: Mm-hm.

... and there was a piece on the back that was like that and it come down over and when the- when the thing was ah, whatever size you set you sheaves for, it would trip it and the bill hook would go round like that and it (non-lexical sound) cut the thing off and then there'd be another one and there was ah, a thing you run with your foot ...

... it was ah ah, a thing that stuck out the side (inc) like that and when you let it go, it folded back into the thing and that's what you sheave so you- when you sheaves in (inc) when your stooking you wouldn't be running all over the place. You'd have a windrow of sheaves and a windrow of sheaves and then you go out and you stook it all by hand and then go out and load it up and- but see th-- n-- no- nobody- nobody does that anymore.

Interviewer: And so what's a winrow? Is it just the- the row of sheaves in the field? Speaker: Yeah, well see depending on how heavy the crop was, if it was a light crop, where you'd have maybe a windrow of sheaves like you didn't want to have a whole bunch. You had maybe- by the time you put about four or five sheaves on this thing- Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: Then you- you just let your foot off it and it tripped and it dropped it in a pile.

... when you got to the end of that pile when you go round and round and round the field, you'd have a row of sheaves here and a row of sheaves here and a row of sheaves here all into the centre and when you started to- to stook, you can start here and you stooked to the centre ...

Do you remember- remember the night, ah, E-- ah- Ellwood, you dropped, ah, the- ah- sheaf of- of grain on top of her out- head out here at the end of the- at the end of the driveway. (burps)

Speaker: Remember- remember that? You were- I was driving the team of horses, and you were standing ahead of the- and you dropped it, she was riding the bicycle up there, and you dropped this sheaf of- of- of grain on her. Speaker 2: Who was this? Trying to get her attention. Speaker: Hit her- hit her right in the top of the head. Hit her right in the top of the head.

Speaker 2: But they lived on the Scotch-Line, did they? Speaker: Oh yeah, and ah, and I remember you dropped, ah, the sheaf ah, of grain on her.

Speaker: Tiffany-Miller, yeah? Speaker 2: Yeah, that could've- it could've been that. Dean d-- Speaker: You dropped the sheaf of l-- Speaker 2: Oh, well I don't remember that, but- Speaker: Well I remember, I w-- I was driving the horses, and you had the she-- and you threw the sh-- she was riding the bicycle up the road, and you threw the sheaf of- ah, and hit her in the top of the head. Speaker 2: I don't remember that one. Speaker 2: I think she was mad at you after.

Um, yeah, I've had the threshing machine, I worked the threshing machine, throwing the sheaves. Worked- did all the farm work, same as he did, worked, helped him ploughed and-so-on, all summer long ...

My dad and I were drawing in grain. It was stooked and ah, I was building the load and um, a groundhog was in a stook. A stook is five sheaves or- or seven or eight whatever, ah, and ah, this groundhog scooted ou-- out and frightened the horses and the horses ran away.

And when you ah harvested the crop, it was cut with a binder and it was put in stooks in the field and you had a threshing machine. Then you put the s-- sheaves on the wagon and you haul 'em into the barn and- and then you had a big threshing-bee and the neighbours came and you threshed the grain and- now of course it's all done with combines and big outfits and- and the farms are getting larger.