Rural Life on the Bardahl Farm (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025 Week 44 theme "Rural")

When not "doing genealogy" I am often engrossed in another of my passions: creating original quilted fabric wall hangings. My most recently completed one inspired this week's "rural" post. 

John Deere "D" Tractor Quilted Wall Hanging (40 X 31 inches) - Joanne Barnard 2025

I like to tell the story of my entire 15 minute farming career occurring on this tractor when I was 8 or 9 years old. My Dad put me in charge of  driving the tractor so that he could pick up hay bales and load them onto a stone boat attached behind. When he told me to "go", I did it with such enthusiasm that I separated the tractor from the stone boat. The word "clevis" comes to mind -- that was what I broke before being summarily dispatched to the house to "help" my mother. 

The wall hanging was based on a photograph I had taken in the 1980s. Even then, the old tractor was being subsumed into the environment. It somehow seems fair that a machine intended to conquer the prairie was itself being overtaken by nature.

This got me thinking about how farm machinery had changed rural life from when my paternal grandfather John Bardahl homesteaded his Saskatchewan farm in 1910 until his death in 1945. Old family photos document some of those changes. 

When my grandparents started to farm in Saskatchewan, the land was virgin prairie. Horses provided the energy for breaking sod and seeding crops. The horses themselves required food, water and shelter. 

According to my Dad Ken in his memoir written in 1991:

It must have been a dream come true when in 1917 they were able to build a 32’ X 60’ hip roof barn with a hay loft to hold the winter’s supply of hay. . . . This barn was ample storage for up to 6 head of horses, which were his pride and joy.  . . .  He was able to finance the whole building with the proceeds off one flax crop.  

Within a few years, other options started to become available. The number of horses required decreased accordingly. By the 1950s, we had just two horses on the farm, used most often in the winter to pull a wagon or sleigh to visit neighbours.

1911 early tractor - John Bardahl on the left

According to Dad, this tractor purchased in the spring of 1911 was one of the first in the district.

Grandpa's Truck purchased in 1928

The purchase of this truck enabled my Grandfather to do some custom work hauling grain, cattle and gravel. 

 Dad described some of the developments in farm machinery: 

A machine called the one-way disc came into being, replacing the plow.  This machine left much of the stubble, anchoring the straw, which helped greatly in wind erosion of the soils.  A seeder box could be mounted on this machine so a person could till your soil as well as seed your grain in one operation.  About this time tractors came into more practical use.  Prior to this there were steam engines, used mainly for breaking the sod or as a power unit for threshing the crops. They were big and awkward and would not have been very practical for general farm use.  Tractors of 15-30 H.P. seemed to be the best size for farming in this area.  The early models had all steel wheels (rough to ride and dirty also).  Hand crank to start, no cabs and no power steering.  Several years later, rubber tires became a reality for tractors.  These were much easier to ride.  Later advancements were power steering units, wheel brakes (used individually for turning corners), lights and P.T.O. (Power Take Off) which could power a machine being pulled, combine, swather, etc. One of the later gadgets was the hydraulic lift system.  With this the operator could control the depth of the machine being pulled, a truly wonderful creation.  Its use even now is limitless, including of course, hoists for unloading a load of grain.  People in general were quite content with machinery of this size.  I can recall brother Jim and I seeding a field of 145 acres in 3 days by going night and day.  This would be with a 9’ one way disc and a sturdy John Deere “D” tractor.  

John Bardahl and some of his children and grandchildren at stooking time, unknown year c.1938

 

 Once again quoting my Dad:   

Another venture that Dad had was his threshing machine for harvesting purposes. . . . When the grain was not quite ripe a machine called a binder was put into use.  This machine was pulled with 4 horses and the binder would cut and bind into sheaves in one operation.  A unit called the bundle carrier would allow the operator to carry about 6 sheaves when they could be released with a simple fast manipulation.  This procedure was very slow, only cutting an 8 foot swath, 12 to 15 acres per day limit.  After this being completed, these bundles had to be put up in stooks, grain end up for drying, about 6 or 8 bundles to a stook.  People became adept at this and it was a beautiful sight on completion.  It was hard manual work with the old water jug not too far away at any given time.  The next operation was when the threshing machine pulled into this field.  The machine was set on level property, with wind on your back.  Next, the 6 or 8 teams of horses and hayracks would load up their bundles.  Each man went in rotation taking turns into the machine for the threshing.  Each unit was proud of their big and well built loads and if you went in early with a small load, you found out quickly that this wasn’t’ a very popular thing to do.

Threshing 1943

John Bardahl seeding spring 1941 with John Deere "D" model tractor; although this model was produced by John Deere from 1928 until 1953, the fenders weren't added until 1939 so Grandpa's tractor was quite new at this time 

As for the John Deere "D" workhorse of my "farming career", although I wasn't driving it long enough to warrant a photograph,  it had often served as the backdrop for many family photos over the years. 

John's daughter Inez Bardahl

John Bardahl's grandchildren Roger, Audrey and Harry Gordon

John's granddaughter Louise Barton

Some Resources:

• Bardahl, Kenneth, personal memoir written 1991 for his grandson Grant McClure, copy in possession of author
• "John Deere D", Machine Finder blog accessed online 2 October 2025 at https://blog.machinefinder.com/39268/the-john-deere-model-d-a-classic-tractor-spotlight