the old potato digger,and todays story

[larry@stinescorner]

The neighbor from Pa called,,said he was going to dig potatoes today.

when I got there he was grinding some feed,I went to our shed to get the flatwagon. I decided if the 8n would start,I was going to use it to help charge up the battery .I hadnt used the 8n in a long time. It fired right up.

I went down to the neighbors old chicken house to load up the crates to put potatoes in

you might recognise the turnip patch way up on the left

here I am at the potato patch

Then I walked back to get his tractor and the old digger,,,This is the Ford his greatgrandfather bought new on this farm

and thats the old digger that hasnt been used in 20 or more years,we put new tires on it last week

Its working good,,,no time for pictures now,,,gotta pick potatoes,,,lol

Was I lieing?? lol

a girlfriend,a few neighbors,two friends,a brother in law,,,and one migrant worker from NJ,,,/(me)...lol

Thats my 35 dollar wagon,,,bought it at a farm auction two farms away from us

the 8n was smiling!

 

[rick1]

larry those sure are some good looking potatoes bet they taste great to.

 

[JayinNY]

Great pics! I think the 2000 was unhappy to miss a
days work? I also see a IH smiling in the last pic!
That's sure alot of potatoes.

 

[RBoots]

Holy moly Larry, that's a lot
of potatoes! Does he sell
them, or is he like you and
just grows way more than he
can use? If I had a potato
digger like that, I'd grow
potatoes like that just to
watch it work, looks very
interesting! And it looks
like only about a third of
the field is done when you
took the pictures of all the
full crates

Ross

 

[OH Boy]

I would have loved to help with that! I get a kick out of putting those old pieces of equipment back to work. Thanks for posting all the pics!

 

[larry@stinescorner]

this year he is selling some,a fellow sells some at the trexlertown farmers market,they sell local produce ,and every relative gets some,Im not related,but sort of family,,,lol

 

[larry@stinescorner]

I took a chance using the 8n, I hadnt run it in so long,but it did good!Look down in t tales ,I Took it for a ride too....

 

[larry@stinescorner]

they are a variety called Lehigh,supposed to be developed for the lehigh valley PA area

 

[larry@stinescorner]

I did call one friend to see if he wanted to go with me,,he said be sure and let him know when we dig,I Called him,,,,he said,,,not today,,,football is on this afternoon,,,I Think I had a better time than watching football,,,what do you think? ////lol

 

[Den N Ms]

Larry,That is a bunch of nice lookin taters he has there,it looks like his crop did very well.Taters,Taters fer every meal,just think how good they will make you feel!lol

 

[Charlie M]

The old PTO driven diggers are great. Mine is ground driven and its a fine line between not deep enough and plugging it up. Imagine digging all those potatoes by hand. Really great pictures.

 

[Spudm]

Nice! Beautiful fall weather too....

 

[larry@stinescorner]

It was a nice day,,a little windy,I had been sick for two days,,,slept most of the day yesterday,,,got the call,,,my daughter said,,dad your not going,,,,but,,, I think she understood how much I wanted to go when I Explained about the old digger,pulling it out of the shed,putting new tires on it,,I really wanted to go,,she said,,,dress warm and dont overdo it,,,Off I went! Got to breathing fresh air,,,bending up and down picking taters,driving the 8n,Suddenly,,,I Didnt feel sick anymore!

 

[SweetFeet]

Oh man, what a fantastic harvest AND fantastic photos! Very interesting - thanks for posting them.

Just a thought... but would it work to fabricate some kind of slanted discharge chute with a shelf below it, to hang off the back of the planter? Then you could set a square tater basket on the shelf (with said shelf having low sides all around to keep the basket in place)...

Then the chute would then direct the harvested taters into the square baskets.

Someone would need to come along behind and pull out the filled-basket and set it aside - then set another empty basket on the shelf to be filled. It would save the labor of bending over to pick up the spuds.

 

[roy prins]

If I lived nearby I would buy a basket full -- I had a crop and only filled one pail -- other years its 10 pails -- weeds took over and it
looked bad -- mud-mud-mud -- I dont think they liked all the rain nor the chemical drift from the fields nearby --good thing they sell them
uptown -- I like em -- Roy

 

[larry@stinescorner]

not just potatoes come out,rocks,roots ,leaves come out too,,,not many in my picture,but lots of rocks come out

 

[larry@stinescorner]

where do you live Roy?

 

[kruser]

Once again - Great Pictures!
BUT, when are you going to discuss the Oliver 550 in the background in the first few pictures?
Jim

 

[larry@stinescorner]

he cant run the digger with that one,the pto doesnt work,its broken,,,but,,,that is a great tractor,his grandfather bought that one brand new,his greatgrandfather bought the Ford

 

[Greg1959]

As always, I enjoy your pics Larry. Y'all grow some purdy 'taters!

 

[the tractor vet]

That was sorta how we did it back when i was a kid . But it was bushel baskets and a two row digger behind a Oliver O C 6 and a army of men with tater forks filling the rows of baskets and two men on the wagon stacking them in a pyramid as i drove the O C 3 . Once the wagon was full then it was off to the storage building and pull up close to the elevator for the men to dump the basket into it then reload the baskets to take back to the field we were digging that day. I was eight years old when i was first helping on harvest.

 

[Bonnan]

Potatoes over football any day! Wished I could help.

 

[roy prins]

Larry -- i live in northwest Iowa -- Roy

 

[teddy52food]

Why isn't there a way to catch the potatoes from the digger instead of dropping them on the ground? It would save a lot of work & the rocks would be removed from the field too.

 

[Mike M]

Sure are a lot of nice looking big potatoes !

All I can think of with that one picture is Smith Dairy wondering where all their milk crates got to ? LOL.

 

[OH Boy]

Yeah I would take the potatoes any day over watching football.

 

[Old Scovy]

A man stopped by a farm And says Hey Rube howed your Tatters turn out ? Ah Rube says they didn't turn out atall we had to dig em.