Had darn close to 2" of rain overnight Saturday into Sunday -- too wet for the garden and mowing! Good day for a Sunday drive.

First stop was the Old Iron Tractor Club show at the Woodstock, Conn. Fairgrounds. Very small show this year given the rain still threatening (and even the parking lots were a bit marginal given 4"+ of rain in the last five days!)

That's a hydraulic dynometer -- measures PTO horsepower.


That's a tree planter. Disk cuts a trench, man sitting takes trees from the shelf and insets into the trench, could coulters then fill in the trench as it goes by.


Horse drawn buzz saw. Not sure if that would've been horse-powered via a treadmill or such device, or if they'd use a stationary gas or steam engine with it (or maybe all three!)


Another horse drawn buzz saw, but this one included the hit-or-miss on the frame.

That's all I took at the show.

I ended up driving up to Connecticut River Valley which I find very scenic in the Hadley, Sunderland, Whatley, Hatfield area of Massachusetts. This is some of the best vegetable farmland in the nation. Bought some fresh strawberries. Kind of disappointed that the fields were almost all potatoes on the Hatfield side of the river, in the past it's been a much bigger mix of taters, onions, tobacco, and other vegetables.

As I started home, I finally stopped at the Hadley Farm Museum -- my experience could be summed up simply as "overwhelmed"; wow what a collection and I'll have to return with my good camera and some spare batteries! Below is just a sampler. Some stuff I've seen, some I've read about, some things I never knew existed!


Foot treadle powered jig saws.


Photos just don't do it justice.


The big board in the back is a cabbage shredder. Up front is a washing machine, less the tub.


Various beehives, some originally from the Massachusetts Agricultural College research collection. Includes straw beehives! But we're not in Utah!


Toy working grist mill. My photo of the label didn't come out well which had the details on it; made by a father for his son aroun 1900.


The barn shows a modern 1950s dairy farm. Originally used by Western Massachusetts Electric Co. for fairs and demonstrations.


Garden & Market Garden tools.


The famous Planet Jr planters -- still make these todays, and even in tractor drawn ones the design has stood the test of time so well.


Circa 1880 Onion Planter...well, at any rate the tool to make the holes into which to drop onion sets. (I'm assuming sets rather then seed or transplants from the size of the holes it would make.)


Measuring wheel for long distances. The article attached showed a "County Surveyor" using one.


Wooden wheeled hoes


Corn planters


Potato seed cutter...where are these when I'm slicing them with a knife?


Corn husk horse collars!