Winding Up the Past

We still have the family farm that was bought in 1880 by Great Granddad Eggert Oft.  The farm always game me a place where I could go out and do some manual labor and simply clear my head.  There is something about walking the same ground as my dad, grand dad and my great granddad did in the past.  I bought a mower for the ATV last year and its relaxing going out to mow the same land I did as a child growing up on the farm.  It's good to reflect on your "roots". 

Linda and I bought ourselves a little something last spring.  To recognize and celebrate the family farm we had a farm sign designed and I mounted it by the lane.  A 132 year celebration of our use of a chunk of prairie the good Lord saw fit to let our family use (with the blessing of the state tax collector).   

Cousin Mike Oft next to the Farm Sign

We had an old, very old barbed wire fence that had to be pulled out.  It dates back to granddad at least and some of the barbed wire design suggests some of the wire might go back further. 

Anyway, the fence was half a mile long; over 2,600 feet composed of antique steel posts supporting five strands of barbed wire and one strand of electrical wire.  I had planned to pull the fence in the spring but the weather was so nice in January, I jumped at it and actually got the wired pulled. 

I did it the old fashion way, the way dad would have had me do it 50 years ago.  I took one strand down at a time, starting with the electric wire.  I started on one end and walked the half mile take the wire down and when I got to the end, I turned around and started rolling it up.   I got about four roles per length.  I did that 6 times walking more than 6 miles wrapping up 3 miles of wire.  The job did in a new pair of leather gloves.

When I picked up the individual rolls it made quite a pile.  The wire was really rusty but some strands were still in usable condition.  I used them to string up a 200 yard section of fence by the Highway.  I think dad, granddad and great grandad would have approved and said; "job well done." 

Nearly 2 miles of barbed wire