Harvest Festival a Hit
By Petrice Tarrant
Those who showed up to the Kaipara Vintage Machinery Clubs first Harvest Festival at Harding Park experienced what it was like for farmers and their families 30 to 50 years ago.
Keith Hansen had his camp oven up and running and his roast lamb stew with herbs from the club's very own garden was a hit.
Basil Cole started off the day mowing a paddock of grass at the bottom of the park and was followed by a scything demonstration from Pamela Parkinson and sickle bar mowing by Kevin Wing.
Onlookers then migrated to the 110-year-old woolshed where Robert Graham and Scott Parker demonstrated sheep shearing. Visitors could compare this to blade shearing as well as an impressive show using a push bike-powered shearing machine.
Next was the battle of modern against vintage where, in this case, modern clearly won.
Bruce Galloway raked the grass using an old-style tractor and rake while Basil Cole rode a monster of a
tractor double the size with a rake to match.
Farmer Lara Clements says events like that made the day "awesome".
"I've never seen some of the old stuff before and it's interesting to see how big things have grown."
Activities such as hay baling and stacking, grass raking and even sewing and cooking kept the visitors
interested.
Club president Bruce Galloway says the day was a huge success.
"There was a lot more activity today than in the crank-up day."
|
;)
