{"id":2665,"date":"2019-04-27T22:33:58","date_gmt":"2019-04-28T02:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=2665"},"modified":"2019-04-27T22:38:49","modified_gmt":"2019-04-28T02:38:49","slug":"oldest-walnut-tree-in-the-county-auction-sale-at-elsie-bird-farm-fifth-line-april-272019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=2665","title":{"rendered":"OLDEST WALNUT TREE IN THE COUNTY. Auction sale at ELSIE BIRD FARM, FIFTH LINE, APRIL 27,2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
april 27, 2014<\/p>\n

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Bitter cold  day when Doug Donaldson held  a  auction on the old BIRD  FAMILY FARM, fifth line, Halton Twp.<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
April 27, 2019<\/div>\n

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\u201cHi there, young fellow, what\u2019s new?\u201d, greeted  Bill Brooks the other day.<\/div>\n
\u201cNot much\u2026pulled hamstring\u2026too much  rain\u2026too bloody cold.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAre you going to the Donaldson auction on Saturday?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDown the fifth line by the railroad tracks\u2026”<\/div>\n
\u201cDo you mean the Bird family farm?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYes, but operated by the Brecon family now\u2026.did you know the Birds?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNever met them but my mother and Elsie Bird were friends  long long ago.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow long?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cPerhaps 1920\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMeet you there\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n

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And so Marjorie and I drove up the lane and parked in the field on an absolutely freezing<\/div>\n
day\u2026April 27, 2019\u2026Spring flowers could not peep above the ground\u2026tree leaves  wanted<\/div>\n
to burst but were afraid to do so lest winter frost bite them to death.<\/div>\n

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And so the Brecon family auction began<\/div>\n

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Doug Davidson as auctioneer<\/div>\n

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His wife as the record  keeper and his daughter as the marker of things  sold and displayer<\/div>\n
of things to sold.  It was  a family affair.<\/div>\n

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A small farm auction that would last two and a half hours.  Most of the crowd were men\u2026some<\/div>\n
dressed in rather bizarre garb.<\/div>\n

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Bill Brooks wore a new pair of gloves as  he stood shivering beside Marjorie who was<\/div>\n
dressed for the occasion.  Our dog, Woody, was the only animal present.  In earlier times<\/div>\n
the Bird farm had a full range of domestic  animals but none today.  All gone.<\/div>\n

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Behind the barn were the ghosts of agriculture technology festooned  in the cobwebs<\/div>\n
of time.<\/div>\n

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No bids  on this machine\u2026probably because no one knew wha it was.<\/div>\n

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The 1966 John Deere tractor brought $7,700.00<\/div>\n

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The little Allis Chalmers brought $800.00 and was last used  to cultivate a field of garlic.<\/div>\n
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Now pay attention.  the most unusual object on the farm never got a bid. There were likely some people who never even noticed it.<\/div>\n

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\u201cMarjorie, come over here\u2026I want my picture taken with this tree.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cIt is the oldest black Walnut tree I have ever seen in my live\u2026must be 8 feet wide or more at the base.  This tree may bee as much as 200 years old.<\/div>\n
The historians said that pioneers looking for good  land always looked for black walnuts.  And  here is the proof.   The Bird family may have planted this <\/div>\n
tree but I bet it precedes them\u2026maybe it was a sapling in the 1820\u2019s.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSeems to be valued by squirrels.<\/div>\n

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\u201cMarjorie, take a  picture of my arm\u2026I can reach right into the guts of the tree\u2026hollow.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s inside?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cGhosts\u2026let me take a flash picture\u2026looks like an ancient cave with stalagmites\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWonder it can stand?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cPerhaps it will go down someday.”<\/div>\n

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\u201cAlan, we better get back to the auction\u2026the harness is coming up.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHarness  is perfect\u2026obviously the Brecon\u2019s loved horses.”<\/div>\n

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Two chain saws sold for $10\u2026neither of them working.<\/div>\n

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English saddle sold for $35\u2026and  may some day be used  in a fancy movie\u2026at least we hope so.<\/div>\n

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Horse collar sold for $50  as did the cast iron implement seat.<\/div>\n

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The square hay bailer sold for $2,700.00\u2026in perfect shape.<\/div>\n

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\u201cAlan, what is this machine?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cpicks up bails of hay or star in the field and shoves them to a man or woman on a hay wagon\u2026replaces<\/div>\n
human beings.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWho  bought it?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBill Brooks\u2026I spoke to him about it and he said he would deliver it to our farm\u2026<\/div>\n
are you interested?  Might look good in the garden\u2026or a trellis for pole beans.<\/div>\n
Bill had an eye for things of value.”<\/div>\n

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The two furrow drag plow got active bidding and sold for around $200<\/div>\n
to a man who does competitive plowing with an old drag tractor…<\/div>\n

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“The buzz saw sold for $5.00\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWho bought it?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou are looking at him right now\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow will you get it in the ruck?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll get Andrew to pick it up.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t you think our son has better things to do with his time?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cPayback for the cost of food and lodging for 20 years.”<\/div>\n

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This is Mr. Brecon\u2026the owner of everything sold today.<\/div>\n

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\u201cMarjorie, I bought this stove\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
:\u201dYou didn\u2019t!!\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDid”<\/div>\n

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Joe Brooks bought this heavy four furrow plow\u2026somewhere around $20<\/div>\n

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\u201cBeen a long time since anyone sat on this seat\u2026moss taken over.”<\/div>\n

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\u201cHow much did you pay for the harness, Alan?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cRather not say.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMore than a  tank full of gas?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cyep.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy not say?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cPlan to rent the harness to a movie\u2026best price not be public.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cIn shore, you paid more for this harness that some of the men<\/div>\n
paid for those useful machines \u201c<\/div>\n
\u201cHorses  are useful.”<\/div>\n

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\u201cWhat all we remember most about this auction?\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe walnut tree\u2026a living creature like this aged tree cannot be forgotten.”<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

april 27, 2014 Bitter cold  day when Doug Donaldson held  a  auction on the old BIRD  FAMILY FARM, fifth line, Halton Twp. alan skeoch April 27, 2019 \u201cHi there, young fellow, what\u2019s new?\u201d, greeted  Bill Brooks the other day. \u201cNot much\u2026pulled hamstring\u2026too much  rain\u2026too bloody cold.\u201d \u201cAre you going to the Donaldson auction on Saturday?\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2665\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}