Farming in the shade

We use an antique fanning mill or seed cleaner to take out most of the non-bean stuff that is harvested along with the beans: stems, bits of bean pods, stones, split beans, and weed seeds. We remove the beans from the combine in buckets and then pour them one by one into the fanning mill hopper.  The beans move along two screens with different sized holes. These screens shake back and forth to both move the beans along and allow some of the debris to fall through the holes. Different beans require screens with different sized holes. The junk comes out the side of the fanning mill. And the beans come up a small conveyor and into a large wooden box. While there is still some cleaning to do, this process takes out much of the unwanted stuff. These Hidatsa Red Beans are now ready for the next step.

We own quite a large seed cleaner that is very good at cleaning large amounts of grain or beans. But the behemoth came with only a couple of sets of screens, and each new set of screens costs $750. You need a different screen for each grain/seed/bean. Ouch! We needed something that was a little more managable--something that could do small batches, and something that came with a variety of different screens. Where do you turn when you want something very, very specific and nearly obsolete? Ebay, of course. A couple of weeks ago, we drove to middle Indiana to pick up our prize--an A.T. Ferrell Clipper Model 1B seed cleaner. It came with 14 screens and was in working condition. After we ran the beans through the screener, we still had to hand-pick out what didn't belong. But it saved so much time! This batch of mixed beans was particularly full of extra stuff. Most of the beans are now cleaned and ready for sale. We are surprised at how fast the heirloom varieties are selling. Maybe...

The Farmer recently talked his way into owning two antique seed cleaners. He bought them from another farmer who had bought them from a now-closed feed mill. It was the feed mill that my hobby farmer father (and all the farmers, hobby and real, for miles around) purchased feed and supplies from when I was a girl. When our daughters were very young, they would ride along with The Farmer on his trips to the feed mill. But like most cooperative feed mills that catered to the small farmer, it went the way of the telegraph. The two antique seed cleaners were not put together when we bought them. In fact, we weren't actually sure that all the parts were there, or which parts went to which cleaner. I wish I'd taken a photo of the piles of parts, so that you could see the scope of the project. But at that time, I was busy having pneumonia . The larger of the two cleaners is basic ally t ogether, thanks to hours of puzzling fun by The Farmer's father, my father, and our son, with oc...