Sunday, November 25, 2012

Harvest Time

As you drive east up 400 North in Bountiful and passed Orchard Drive on your way to the temple, look to the north for a glimpse of the old Tuttle Farm. Many Bountiful youth were hired to pick fruit and vegetables through the summer and fall. They were supervised by Joe and Thoral Tuttle, sons of Sarah and Wilford Tuttle. At this time of thanksgiving, take a tour of the farm as it stood in the mid-20th Century. Feel free to comment if you have memories of the Tuttle farm.

"The ground on which most of us live and where our food is grown was cleared of rocks, trees and stumps by millions of hardworking people whose names we've forgotten. . . We owe a debt of gratitude that we can never repay (Daniel C. Peterson. Mormon Times. Nov. 22, 2012)." Luckily, we know the names of some of these dear folk who worked one particular farm.

 Tuttle Barn and horse coral.

 The Tuttle farm sat on the east bench above the valley. In the barn hay was safely stored for the winter.
"Come, ye thankful people, come,
raise the song of harvest home;
all is safely gathered in,
ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide
for our wants to be supplied;
come to God's own temple, come,
raise the song of harvest home
(Come, Ye Thankful People, Come. Henry Alford)."
 Numerous little boys learned to drive on tractors similar to this one. By mid-century the subdivision had begun to encroach on the farmland.

A cantaloupe or watermellon toss were rewards of a hot day in the fields. "Men are that they might have joy (2 Nephi 2:25)"

Horses ready to feed in the large crib located in the coral.

Crates were filled with tomatoes, cherries, beans and other harvested produce. Joe Tuttle center.

Road to the far fields. "Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening (Psalms 104:23)." 

The Book of Mormon counsels that we should "live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow. . . (Alma 34:38)"

 Florence Tuttle Foy as she was busily engaged in sorting tomatoes. "For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon. . . God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind? (Mosiah 4:19)."

 Uncle Joe after harnessing the Clyesdales.



 Uncle Thoral preparing the hot beds.

 To protect against a late frost hot caps were placed over tender plants.

 Jean Foy sorting and facing cantaloupes.

 Joe Tuttle and his hands as they admire the polished apples ready for market.

 All work and no play? Florence Foy's children and cousins stacked like sardines on a farm horse.

 Lugs were loaded onto trailers by the hired hands - neighbors and cousins.

 Fruit trees in the distant orchards were not pruned as they are now. Pickers used metal hooks and swayed from very tall ladders to harvest the crops.

 Truckloads of peppers and other produce where hauled from the Tuttle fields to market each day.

 A simple man-made reservoir provided water for irrigation and doubled as a duck pond and baptisimal font when necessary. Today "we rely upon complex networks of exchange and transportation that very few of us could begin to explain (Daniel C. Peterson. Mormon Times. Nov. 22, 1912).

 Not exactly young men at this point, both Joe and Thoral Tuttle pad the board upon which they knelt to plant to transplant seedlings. 

 Thoral kneeling again before a crate of cucumbers. The produce was always faced up in neat order to attract the eye of the customer.

A farmer had to be both veterinarian and mechanic to care for and maintain both horses and tractors.

"For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon . . . God, for all the substance which we have, bor both food and raiment . . . which we have of every kind? (Mosiah 4:19)." During this month we give thanks to God and remember those who have preceded us for the blessings we receive as a result.

1 comment:

  1. I remember Uncle Joe putting me up on the back of the Clydesdales and letting me ride while he plowed. My legs got soooo sweaty, but I wouldn't get off because it was so fun to be with him and the horse. Linda

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