I really liked the people of "Little Norway" because they remind me of where I'm from. As I've said, I'm from an area of Germans and only Germans. They are all farmers and Roman Catholics. The community of "Little Norway" sounds exactly the same, only Lutheran. :)
The story about the young man who fell from the hayloft and died really struck me because a man in our community died in almost exactly the same way. It was really sad how common farm accidents are.
Farming has progressed rather quickly since the earlier 1900's and progress is still evident today. Even in the years I've lived on my farm there have been a lot of changes. I'm not sure how the fieldwork as changed since my dad starting farming, but I know the dairy operation has changed significantly.
When did most farms start to mechanize their operations? Was the family duscussed behind the general trend?
It is sad to see the family change its traditional ways of diary farming, but i guess it is good that they did change otherwise they may have had to leave all farming behind.
It is amazing how fast farming changed for example when they were talking about going from horse to tractor it was a quick jump that didn't seem to gradual.
I found it interesting that the father and his children packed their stuff up and went to the prairie to make grass. I have never heard of that before now.
I find this quite interesting, I was reading the first line of the article to my roomate to make fun of it, but it didn't go through because she didn't know what a "round barn" was. She also said that she couldn't remember the last time that she had seen a barn, much less where she could go to find one. I always knew that some people didn't know that much about farming, but that much was astonishing.
And I couldn't even imagine doing all the haying prodecures by hand or by horses, better yet much less with a tractor with out power take off. It's crazy how far technology really has come.
It is interesting how now the only thing that really remains from the very early and young days of the new town is the Luthern steeple chruch and the Rongen's round barn that Johannes had built with no apparent reason for a round barn, beside being an easy way to feed the animals.
Rongen's like to keep the technology that they knew well until they were sure that a tractor or a baler was absoultly needed. The family seemed to make wise decisions on what needs to be done and upgraded. They also seem to believe highly in family traditions and to keep their heritage out in the open as much as possible.
I liked reading about the round barn because there is a round barn just like it near where I live, and whenever I drive past it I always wish I could get out and take a picture. There's just something about them that seems unique.
Haymaking sure has come a long way, and I can appreciate just how hard it must have been to gather hay without tractors. On my grandpa's ranch, my mom, brother, father and I help him stack and gather the hay on his flatbed, and that is hard work even with the tractor and equipment! A lot of physical labor still goes into farming, despite the advances in technology...
Art Rongen reminded me of my grandfather and a lot of other ex-farmers I know. I call them ex-farmers because they no longer make a living doing it, but they just can't seem to give it up. My grandpa is 85 and every year he says it is his last year bailing hay and every year he goes out and bails it with the help of his 84 year old wife and stacks it in the haybarn himself.
It seems to me that most farmer immigrants had the same ideals. Preserve your heritage, support your religion, and the barn came before the house. (Unfortunately for my great-grandfathers family, three children froze to death before the house got built.)
It is evident through the reading that haymaking has changed considerably over the years. However, it is still the same general process. Cut the grass, rake it, bale it, and get it out of the field before it rains. As stated in the reading, there have been many technological changes. My family has experienced all of these changes over the years, and I have even experienced some technological changes myself.
The Rongen's "considered the hayloft a sacred place" but also "potentially dangerous." This view is the same as when I was growing up. For some reason I respected the hayloft more than any other place on the farm. I think my reason for respect was because there was so much danger to be found in the hayloft- so many things can go wrong. I viewed it as a sacred place because it was an imaginative place, full of history and past stories.
I have a question for the students with experience in dairying. How exactly does a bailer work? I'm having trouble picturing how this machine is able to take straw and make it into a giant brick of hay.
Also, it seems our haymaking Norwegians could have benefited by waiting until newer and better technology came around before they got into the bailing method. They should have stuck with the horse-drawn piling technique that worked so well for hundreds of years.
My father's wisdom makes sense in this case. Don't jump on the technology bandwagon right away. Wait until things improve before you buy into the new method.
Before I read this article I had never really heard about a round barn, but it does make sense to have if it makes feeding the animals a lot easier.
Another thing that i noticed was that Art liked International tractors over John Deere. I noticed this because farmers today still have favorite tractor models, and i didn't realize that this dated all the way back to the 1950's.
In the reading it talks about all Art Rongen's children in the field gathering hay with forks and just muscle power. Today you can bale hay and put it in storage without leaving a tractor. Things have sure changed in 50 years or so.
Also I noticed that in the reading it talks about wire, nails, and other junk being in the hay. Today's modern choppers have metal detectors that will stop any type of metal being picked up in the hay. This eliminates the worries of feeding cows hazardous items.
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Comments
I like the concept of trying to preserve as much of your natural heritage as possible. The way the people of "Little Norway" did.
Johannes seemed to be very wise with his money. Only building one structure at a time to stay out of debt.
Posted by: Amanda Melhorn | March 27, 2006 08:18 AM
I really liked the people of "Little Norway" because they remind me of where I'm from. As I've said, I'm from an area of Germans and only Germans. They are all farmers and Roman Catholics. The community of "Little Norway" sounds exactly the same, only Lutheran. :)
The story about the young man who fell from the hayloft and died really struck me because a man in our community died in almost exactly the same way. It was really sad how common farm accidents are.
Posted by: Carla Inderrieden | March 27, 2006 08:59 PM
Farming has progressed rather quickly since the earlier 1900's and progress is still evident today. Even in the years I've lived on my farm there have been a lot of changes. I'm not sure how the fieldwork as changed since my dad starting farming, but I know the dairy operation has changed significantly.
Posted by: Becca Haack | March 28, 2006 09:29 PM
When did most farms start to mechanize their operations? Was the family duscussed behind the general trend?
It is sad to see the family change its traditional ways of diary farming, but i guess it is good that they did change otherwise they may have had to leave all farming behind.
Posted by: Nick Miller | March 28, 2006 09:56 PM
It is amazing how fast farming changed for example when they were talking about going from horse to tractor it was a quick jump that didn't seem to gradual.
I found it interesting that the father and his children packed their stuff up and went to the prairie to make grass. I have never heard of that before now.
Posted by: Alicia Lund | March 28, 2006 10:03 PM
I find this quite interesting, I was reading the first line of the article to my roomate to make fun of it, but it didn't go through because she didn't know what a "round barn" was. She also said that she couldn't remember the last time that she had seen a barn, much less where she could go to find one. I always knew that some people didn't know that much about farming, but that much was astonishing.
And I couldn't even imagine doing all the haying prodecures by hand or by horses, better yet much less with a tractor with out power take off. It's crazy how far technology really has come.
Posted by: Angie Walbridge | March 28, 2006 11:58 PM
It is interesting how now the only thing that really remains from the very early and young days of the new town is the Luthern steeple chruch and the Rongen's round barn that Johannes had built with no apparent reason for a round barn, beside being an easy way to feed the animals.
Rongen's like to keep the technology that they knew well until they were sure that a tractor or a baler was absoultly needed. The family seemed to make wise decisions on what needs to be done and upgraded. They also seem to believe highly in family traditions and to keep their heritage out in the open as much as possible.
Posted by: Jessica Bryan | March 29, 2006 07:56 AM
I liked reading about the round barn because there is a round barn just like it near where I live, and whenever I drive past it I always wish I could get out and take a picture. There's just something about them that seems unique.
Haymaking sure has come a long way, and I can appreciate just how hard it must have been to gather hay without tractors. On my grandpa's ranch, my mom, brother, father and I help him stack and gather the hay on his flatbed, and that is hard work even with the tractor and equipment! A lot of physical labor still goes into farming, despite the advances in technology...
Posted by: Katrina Hopkins | March 29, 2006 08:08 AM
Art Rongen reminded me of my grandfather and a lot of other ex-farmers I know. I call them ex-farmers because they no longer make a living doing it, but they just can't seem to give it up. My grandpa is 85 and every year he says it is his last year bailing hay and every year he goes out and bails it with the help of his 84 year old wife and stacks it in the haybarn himself.
It seems to me that most farmer immigrants had the same ideals. Preserve your heritage, support your religion, and the barn came before the house. (Unfortunately for my great-grandfathers family, three children froze to death before the house got built.)
Posted by: Katie Hausladen | March 29, 2006 08:10 AM
It is evident through the reading that haymaking has changed considerably over the years. However, it is still the same general process. Cut the grass, rake it, bale it, and get it out of the field before it rains. As stated in the reading, there have been many technological changes. My family has experienced all of these changes over the years, and I have even experienced some technological changes myself.
The Rongen's "considered the hayloft a sacred place" but also "potentially dangerous." This view is the same as when I was growing up. For some reason I respected the hayloft more than any other place on the farm. I think my reason for respect was because there was so much danger to be found in the hayloft- so many things can go wrong. I viewed it as a sacred place because it was an imaginative place, full of history and past stories.
Posted by: Jamie Seitzer | March 29, 2006 08:38 AM
Apologies for my tardiness...
I have a question for the students with experience in dairying. How exactly does a bailer work? I'm having trouble picturing how this machine is able to take straw and make it into a giant brick of hay.
Also, it seems our haymaking Norwegians could have benefited by waiting until newer and better technology came around before they got into the bailing method. They should have stuck with the horse-drawn piling technique that worked so well for hundreds of years.
My father's wisdom makes sense in this case. Don't jump on the technology bandwagon right away. Wait until things improve before you buy into the new method.
Posted by: T. Beaster | March 29, 2006 09:27 AM
Before I read this article I had never really heard about a round barn, but it does make sense to have if it makes feeding the animals a lot easier.
Another thing that i noticed was that Art liked International tractors over John Deere. I noticed this because farmers today still have favorite tractor models, and i didn't realize that this dated all the way back to the 1950's.
Posted by: Marc Huneke | March 29, 2006 09:50 AM
In the reading it talks about all Art Rongen's children in the field gathering hay with forks and just muscle power. Today you can bale hay and put it in storage without leaving a tractor. Things have sure changed in 50 years or so.
Also I noticed that in the reading it talks about wire, nails, and other junk being in the hay. Today's modern choppers have metal detectors that will stop any type of metal being picked up in the hay. This eliminates the worries of feeding cows hazardous items.
Posted by: Adam Dicke | March 29, 2006 11:05 AM
funny ringtones
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