Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – Students at Presque Isle Middle School recently got an introduction as to how potato farming used to be, thanks to a visit by Richard Rand of Presque Isle.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
RICHARD RAND, of Presque Isle, brought his 1946 Chevrolet farm truck to the Presque Isle Middle School recently to talk about old-time potato harvest practices. Rand’s visit was part of a new program at the school called Lunch Box Lectures. Here, Rand shows students the truck’s electric hoist as sixth-grader Matthew Burtt, right, looks on.
Rand, a former mathematics teacher at Cunningham Middle School and the University of Maine at Presque Isle, brought his 1946 Chevrolet farm truck with him.
“This was bought new in Presque Isle by a man named Edmund Beaulieau on the Chapman Road,” said Rand. “His son, Guy, also drove this truck, and I bought it in 1990 from Allen Kelley who lived on the Parkhurst Siding Road.
“This truck was used to help harvest potatoes and to haul potatoes to the potato house,” he told students. “In the summertime, it was used to pick rocks and hay. The tires on the back are military tires because in 1946 – when the truck was made – there was a surplus of all-weather tires, so this truck has the original military tires on the back.”
Rand’s farm truck can often be seen in the Mapleton and Washburn parades.
To give students an idea of what old-time harvest practices were like, Rand placed potatoes on a section of lawn at the school and had them “lay the potatoes in a row like the machines do.” He then had two students pick the potatoes, place them in a basket and dump the potatoes into a barrel.
“What they do after they fill the barrel up is put a ticket on it,” said Rand. “The tickets were then collected and put in the ticket box, and at night, the farmer would count up all the tickets and pay the pickers accordingly. When I was younger and picked potatoes, I got paid 20 cents a barrel.”
Another student then rolled the barrel over to the farm truck where Rand used a hand potato barrel grapple to lift the barrel onto the back of the truck with the help of another student who pushed the barrel from the bottom.
“This is the way they did it back in the 1930s and 1940s,” Rand said. “After the truck was filled with potato barrels, they were taken to the potato storage house, emptied, and the barrels were then taken back to the field to be filled again.”
During his presentation, Rand also showed the students the truck’s electric hoist, which was made locally, and how to secure the chains on the side of the truck.
Rand said he was pleased with the students’ enthusiasm and enjoyed his visit to the middle school.
“I like to demonstrate old farm equipment and old tools,” he said. “I enjoy using them, and I collect them, and I like to show younger people how they’re used.
“They were very interested in what I had to say, and seemed to want to do the stuff I asked them to,” said Rand. “There was no shortage of volunteers. It was fun.”
Rand’s visit was part of a new program at the school, Lunch Box Lectures.
“We received a $10,000 grant from the Maine Historical Society, in conjunction with the Maine State Library, to work on preserving artifacts, photographs, original documents from Presque Isle,” said Gail Hagelstein, library/media specialist at PIMS. “The three main partners are the middle school, the historical society, and the public library.
“The historical society is running a series of monthly lectures, and I thought what a great idea to do it at the middle school, too,” she said. “We had Richard come and talk about potato harvesting, we have John Zaborney from the University of Maine at Presque Isle who will present civil defense in Aroostook County, and then Kim Smith from the historical society will present Victorian etiquette in November.”
Hagelstein said she hopes to have the lectures throughout the school year. Lunch Box Lectures is open to any student at the school.
“We had 40 kids for our first one, so that’s great,” she said. “The kids were involved and learned some things … that’s what it’s all about.”
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
KATE LEAVITT, a sixth-grader at Presque Isle Middle School, receives some assistance from Richard Rand in securing the chains on the side of Rand’s 1946 Chevrolet farm truck that he brought to the school recently as part of a new program, Lunch Box Lectures. Rand spoke to students about old-time potato harvesting in Aroostook County.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
MACY DESMOND, a sixth-grader at Presque Isle Middle School, fills her basket with potatoes during a recent Lunch Box Lecture featuring Richard Rand, who gave the students an introduction as to how potato farming used to be.
