Harvesting Oats Brings Back A Lost Tradition

Cutting and shocking oats is a sign that fall is lurking around the corner, and that the Nelson Pioneer Farm is preparing for the Fall Festival.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – It may have been a fairly modern tractor, pulling a machine that was 100 years older, but the experience of cutting and shocking oats was passed along to another generation on Saturday.

The new tractor was a bit of an exception, as the farm typically has an equipment cut-off date of 1958, the year the Nelson’s donated the farm to the county historical society.

The McCormick reaper/binder being pulled behind the tractor dates from the 1860’s and efficiently bundles and ties the oats. This was a vastly improved method from previous methods of cutting with a cradle (scythe) and hand tying the bundles. “That was a big labor saver,” says Curator Kelly Halbert.

The operation to cut and shock the oats went from a 7 or 8 man operation to a 2 man operation, with the invention of this, originally horse-drawn, reaper/binder.

The cutting and shocking of the oats is a precursor, of sorts, for the annual Fall Festival that is held at Nelson Pioneer Farm. Curator Kelly Halbert said the oats get threshed at the Fall Festival via a vintage steam engine.

The oats gave little warning that they were ready for harvest, and Halbert said that having so many volunteers out to participate on such short notice, “is fabulous.”

Volunteers followed the antique equipment, stacking the cut and bundled oats into the shocks, which will stand in place for a couple of weeks before being loaded onto a wagon and stored until the festival.

The 52nd Annual Fall Festival will take place on September 16th, starting at 10am.

On August 5th, the Dog Hollow Rendezvous will be held at Nelson Pioneer Farm. The Rendezvous will take visitors back in time to the days of the frontiersmen.