Sarah Pruys
When Lee Donaldson finally was able to track down his great-grandfather’s potato planter, he called up his cousin, Don Manty, for help to fix it up so it could be used again for the first time in more than 70 years.
“Our great-grandfather, back in we’re assuming the 1920s, grew seed potatoes and sold them off the farm,” Manty explained.
“We believe that they bought it [the potato planter] used in the 1920s,” he added. “That’s what we’re gathering from older family members.”
“They raised certified seed potatoes, so this was bought with our family and the neighbour family,” said Donaldson.
“Back at that time, everything was horse-drawn equipment, so somehow through connections with the family, Lee managed to track down the actual planting equipment,” said Manty.
“And because he has draft horses, he thought, ‘Well, that would be a really neat project to see if we can get that thing working and try and plant potatoes with it on the homestead,’ because he lives on our family’s original homestead now [from 1898].”
“My brother had this at his place for the last 25 years, and last year he decided I should have it,” noted Donaldson.
“It seemed right that the planter return to the family homestead where it was first used.”
“So last fall, when Lee managed to track this thing down, he called me one day and said, ‘Do you want to look at it? Do you think we can get this thing working?’” Manty recalled.
“Over the course of the winter, we took the thing all apart—Lee did the majority of the work himself, he deserves 90 percent of the credit for the whole project,” stressed Manty.
“We had to make a few new pieces, but we got everything working on it.”
The project was not without complications however.
“It was the biggest part of the winter, working on it occasionally,” said Manty. “I would say between the two of us, we have 150 hours of time into it.
“Every single part had to be take apart and cleaned . . . that was the only way we could make it work—to completely disassemble it and get everything moving again from scratch.
“Everything was all seized and rusted, but it was pretty much all there.
“Because everything was there, it was fairly easy,” he added. “[But] some of the stuff was worn out so badly, we had to make new pieces for it.”
Finally, after months of working on it, they planted rows of potatoes earlier this month.
“Until we broke it,” Manty laughed.
“It’s an easy fix,” he added. “We just have to find a part to repair it.”
Still, the antique machine was able to accomplish a lot.
“It’s extremely primitive,” said Manty. “It’s amazing that they were even able to make it work back in the day.”
“We planted probably a quarter of an acre,” noted Donaldson. “120 pounds of seed, nine long rows.
“Well, it was interesting, and it was fun,” he added.
“Donny and I work together on quite a few projects, and we like to work together,” Donaldson remarked.
“Certainly, it’s something I like to do because . . . we’re always looking for something we can do with our horses.”
“It was quite an interesting accomplishment,” agreed Manty. “It was nice just working with a cousin on a project like that.”
When asked if they will continue to plant potatoes in coming years, Manty replied,“Oh, for sure, it was a lot of fun.
“The nostalgia of it, I guess.
“The only thing is we could never figure out what manufacturer made the thing,” he noted.
“There was nothing on it anywhere to identify it—if it was made by John Deere or International.”
The project is not over yet, though, as they still have to harvest the freshly-planted potatoes come fall.
“Now we also have the potato harvester that they used, so through the course of the summer we’ll probably try and get that going, as well,” Manty remarked.
The harvester has been used more recently, about 30 years ago.
“It’s certainly worn and rusty, as well,” Manty noted. “But I think it’s going to be easier to get things freed up on it because it hasn’t been sitting for nearly as long.”
“We hope to use it if the weather is right, it would have to be fairly dry,” Donaldson reasoned.
“And if not, we’ll end up using our tractor which is 60 years old so it is fairly antique.
“Actually, I’ve purchased a hiller and a cultivator that Donny and I are going to pick up in Minnesota next week,” added Donaldson.
“So we’re going to use the horses to cultivate, as well.”
The “new” pieces, he said “. . . are all old, they’re all probably 100 years old.”
