Responsible Farming

Farmers worked to conserve their rich soil. They tried many different techniques to get the most from their farm land.

As well as tending to his livestock, a good farmer tended to land—keeping it fertile.

You had quite a bit of manure to haul out on the land. You had to rotate your crops; if you kept corn all the same, finally your corn wouldn’t do so good anymore. Your ground got more stubborn—ya know. And if you changed over to small grains like oats and then rotate to hay land, like clover, that make your ground in better condition to raise corn again.

Last of May, first of June was haying time. They hay was mowed, raked, loaded on rack and taken to the barn for storage.