Three generations of the Robert Cowan family demonstrate a vintage horse-powered hay press. The 1905 stationary hay press shows how loose hay was pressed into rec tangular bales weighing 100-120 pounds. A mule hitched to a 12-foot pipe sweep arm walks in a circle to drive a 16-foot-long plunger, which compresses the hay in a metal chamber. As the compressed hay emerges, long wires are placed around the bale by hand. Look, Learn, Buy Ag Progress Days Combines Past With Future LOU ANN GOOD Food And Family Features Editor ROCKSPRING (Centre Co.) “Discover Your. Future Today,” was the theme for Ag Progress Days, Aug. 20-22, but the annual event definitely is also the place to discover your past. Interspersed among the biggest display ever of the most up-to Bruce Berkey of the Nittany Antique Machinery Associ ation salvaged this steam boiler from an old steam shov el. He adapted it to use to produce the heat to make ham and bean soup and other specialties cooked in large ket tles shown at right. Lancaster FjMJ^mg date equipment and technology are glimpses to the past. A demonstration of a rare vin tage horse-powered hay press showed how farm work was done almost a century ago. Three generations of the 82-year-old Robert L. Cowan family worked together. Their efforts showed it was slower, dangerous, and much harder to harvest hay in 1905 than today. Men forked hay into the press as a mule hitched to a 12-foot pipe sweep arm walked in a cir cle to drive a 16-foot-long plung er, which compressed the hay in a metal chamber. As the com pressed hay emerged, the Cowan family placed long wires around the bale to hold it together. Cowan donated the baler to the museum in 1999. Not far away Bruce Berkey stir a steaming kettle of ham and bean soup. Berkey used a steam boiler that he renovated from an old steam shovel to heat the soup kettles. People could watch the unusual setup and purchased a bowl of soup of the barbecue elk that was also made in the same fashion. The Pasto Agricultural Muse um was open and filled with in triguing pieces from the past. Featured this year were special exhibits on early farm and home pork processing and preserva tion. The tools and processes sparked memories among the dyesites* Les Firth holds an antique country store counter scale made by Jacobs Brothers, a well-established manufactur ing company. Firth said the maroon color with the sten ciled emblem is unusual. older generation of visitors who recalled the annual butchering day on the farm. For the younger generation, the museum offered a glimpse of life before power equipment and refrigeration. For the third year, a silent auc tion featured numerous antiques and collectibles. The donated pieces up for bid were displayed in a tent next to the museum. Each piece was displayed and clearly identified. A page attach ed to each one allowed visitors to write down their bids on Tuesday and Wednesday. Bidding closed at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. The highest bidder of each item was allowed to take a piece of nostal gia home. Ron Johnson, a volunteer with the Alumni Endowment for the Pasto Agricultural Museum, said that 170 items with a value of $17,000 were up for bid. Final re sults were not available at presstime. Proceeds from the silent auc tion benefit the Pasto Agricultur al Museum. This one-gallon milk jug from Singing Brook Farm has the original paper cap with label. It was donated by Obie Snider. This Dazey 2-gallon metal churn brings back memories for Ron Johnson, who remembers churning butter as a kid. Johnson said this metal butter churn patented in 1917 probably produced about two pounds butter when filled with cream and churned.
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