The hayfork cable incident!


Before my father (Frank a Xavier) moved back to St.Chrysostome to take over his old homestead farm, he lived across Canada. He worked as an accountant, bank employee, and army clerk (WWII). So, our Dad became the only farmer and part-time accountant we knew of in the community. Even though PEI is small, our Dad would often be away from home for 2 - 3 days on an accounting job. In the 1950s and 60s, the roads in PEI could have been better, and it wasn't practical to commute daily across the island. The solution to keeping the farm operating day-to-day was to have a hired hand -- my siblings and I were still too young to manage (and our mother had her hands full with seven kids plus her mother-in-law). 

When I was about 10 or 12, we had Andre a Theodore as our hired hand. He was the son of Theodore a Pierre, our neighbour and farmer. Andre only had a few academic skills but had good experience with farm animals and current farming practices. He was a bit thick-headed, which sometimes caused frustration with my father. He was trying to start his farm in St. Chrysostome during his years as our hired hand. So, sometimes, one of my brothers or I would volunteer to help him. 

Andre had a small barn just down the road from our place, and one day, I was there helping him operate his hayfork. A hayfork is used to haul hay into the upper part of the barn (hayloft) and uses pulleys and a cable. Andre was using a steel cable pulled by an old Massey Ferguson tractor. Since his barn was near the road, you had to drive the tractor across the road for sufficient distance to lift the hayfork to its proper location. It was a bad set-up and a poor decision to have a 12-year-old on the tractor! At one time, I didn't notice a car coming (Eddie a Gill), and across the road I went. By the time I saw (or heard) the car, I could do nothing. Luckily, he saw something and hit the brakes. The cable was on his car hood; I can't remember any damage details. But I do remember the yelling and cursing at Andre!

When my Mom and Dad heard about the hayfork cable incident, that was the end of us kids helping Andre on his farming adventures!

 

Old Massey Ferguson (1950s vintage)

 

Old hayforks


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