They were the days

Willie MacFarlane of Wolfhill in Perth has emailed to say: “Your article on the old threshing mills brought back memories to me of the very last harvest which my grandparents enjoyed before they retired back in 1962.

“My late grandfather, Thomas McFarlane, was the very last tenant farmer of Blairbell Farm, Findo Gask in Perthshire, a 57-acre mixed farm which was owned by the Dupplin Estate. I was just a child at the time and although I had enjoyed many a holiday, helping out with the milking, bucket feeding the calves and gathering eggs, this was, as far as I can recall, the first time I had been allowed to ‘help out’ at the harvest.

“The threshing mill, owned by local contractor Jack Watson and his father, occupied pride of place by the side of the stack yard and never before had I seen so many men hard at work, forking the bunches of corn from the stacks into the hungry machine.

“As soon as the stacks were disturbed there would be a scattering of mice and other vermin running in all directions much to the delight of the farm cats which eagerly stood on guard close by.

“My best memory of all, though, was the fine harvest tea which had been laid on for the men once the work had been completed. Blairbell Farmhouse, I should explain, was a simple two bedroomed single brick cottage which was served neither by electricity or running water. Strangely enough though they did have a phone!

“My grandmother, my aunt and my female cousin must have worked tirelessly for days in order to prepare the spread which followed. The tiny kitchen of the cottage housed an AGA cooker, complete with oven the heat being supplied by the copious amount of firewood which was fed into its furnace. A rural gas bottle supplied the ring which sat nearby. Fresh water was brought into the house from a natural spring which was to be found within the nearby wood.

“The living room, complete with its bedroomed alcove, was the venue for the feeding of the hungry workers, the large round wooden table in the centre of the stone floored room heavily laden with plates of freshly baked scones, crumpets, cakes and the like. The freshly-churned butter came from the cows out there in the byre. Never before had I seen that sturdy oak table covered in such a fashion, the freshly starched white coloured table cloth having been spotlessly prepared for its traditional appearance.

“As evening began to draw in I can remember the old tilly lamps being pressurised and then set aglow, their smooth mellow light and their accompanying singing sound adding to the spirit of the occasion.

“It would be late on in the evening before the last of the guests departed and it was then that the women folk began the task of clearing up.

Happy days indeed.”

“I thought readers might like this photograph of a red squirrel enjoying an autumn shower at Barnhill in Perth,” says Roy Mitchell.

“These very pretty mouse ear seedheads were amazingly intact despite all the recent high winds,” says Eric Niven.