Last weekend at Dunvegan Gardens in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada, I nearly teared up at the sight of (you'll never guess) an antique John Deere manure spreader! It was the identical model to one we had in use down on the farm back in My Old Country (Saskatchewan). I would not even hazard a guess how many times, in Days of Yore, I loaded that spreader to overflowing and hauled it to/from the field.
It was ground-driven, controlled with two levers, reachable from the tractor seat. One lever was for engaging/disengaging the conveying chain and the other for the back beaters/spreaders. We usually pulled it with a Massey-Harris 101 Junior tractor, which I believe was all of about 24 drawbar horsepower!
Seeing it brought back all the regret of leaving ours (and for that matter, the little Massey tractor we pulled it with) behind in The Land of Constant Sorrow. We could have put it to good use here on our little rural property in the Peace Country of northwest Alberta. If for no other reason than to adorn it with flowers like they do this one at the garden centre!
