Harvests of past being re-enacted

A live museum of harvesting and farm life from early last century, including equipment from Central Taranaki, will be in action at Brixton this weekend for vintage hay day. The event is held every two years by the Taranaki Vintage Machinery Club, and this year the Huirangi School community is helping host the event and provide the traditional country hospitality. The weekend is set back 60 or 70 years, to show what farm life was like at harvest time in the 1930s to 1950s, said club president Dave Hunger, Stratford. "It's for families, an opportunity for grandparents to bring grandchildren to see what farm life used to be like." The hay day is being held on Colin and Viv and Peter and Brenda Honnor's farm at 300 Waitara Rd. It will be signposted from the corner of SH3 and Waitara Rd at Brixton. They had sown and grown a paddock of oats which would be reaped, stacked in sheaves and threshed over the weekend, he said. There would also be plenty of hands-on experiences for children, who could have a go at turning various handles to shuck corn, grind grain and pat the Clydesdale horses. There would be craft demonstrations, various rides and plenty of food stalls. Other attractions include maypole dancing displays, coal ranges fired up to bake scones and demonstrations of haystack making. "Building a haystack is a skill that is only known by a few older men now," he said. http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/south-taranaki-star/66380220/Harvests-of-past-being-re-enacted