4 replies to this topic

[JD DANNELS]

This morning on I35 going through Des Moines, I saw something I never have seen.
There was a Semi with Wisconsin on the door(Town I missed) with an open trailer heaping with green beans. Do they produce a lot of produce up there in Wisconsin?
My best guess is that he was headed to the Hy Vee Food Stores warehouse in Chariton,Ia.?
There are no longer any canneries operating in Iowa, and the 3 known produce Auction houses in the state are a good 80 miles East of Des Moines.

[ducky]

WOW, Sorry I missed this.

Yes you probably saw a "Plainfield Trucking Co" Plainfield, Wi." truck hauling raw produce for one of the canning companies up here.

Delmonte does a lot of sweet corn, beans, and peas in this area.

A lot of the smaller canning companies have gone away.  Stokleys was a very large cannier in this area and has moved on.  I remember Stokleys  was one of the largest pea growers in this part of Wisconsin.

Before Mobile Pea Combines I remember the corner of Griener Rd and Farrell Rd were they had a  set up with 4 stationary viners where the vines with the pea pods arrived and then they were fork fed into the viners and peas came out in one place the the vines minus the peas were stacked behind the viners.

Back in those days they would let the local framers have the vines for cow feed.  Cows loved the sweet taste and my Dad had me over there forking them on a flat wagon ever day to feed our dairy cows.

The last time I can remember the viners operating at that location was back in the late 50's  They were there for some time before being torn down around the early 60's.

 

Wow this should be in the "Small Town Thread" after writing it.

[Sawdust]

Small town news is always fun to read about. I went to a small town feed & seed mill a few weeks ago thinking I could buy some beans & potatoes to plant. So sad they hardly had anything but I could see at one time they were a thriving business. Equipment sitting covered in dust, several scales, large loading dock etc. Days gone by & forgotten by most.

[JD DANNELS]

Small town news is always fun to read about. I went to a small town feed & seed mill a few weeks ago thinking I could buy some beans & potatoes to plant. So sad they hardly had anything but I could see at one time they were a thriving business. Equipment sitting covered in dust, several scales, large loading dock etc. Days gone by & forgotten by most.

Yeah it is kind of sad. Newton Seed Store went out of business last year. They were getting old enough to want to retire.

City wanted the building to raze for urban renewal. The building was old enough it still had tracks for a railroad siding along side of it.

It is all gone now.

[MH81]

Our CO-OP finally went out of business three years back. Someone bought it and reopened, but it had been so many years without much for stock that everyone in town was trained to go to the next town and wal-mart.

Building still stands, spent a lot of time in there with Dad over the years. Especially in the grinding area.
Loved the old wood look and molasses smells. I remember the old wooden handled hand carts, worn so smooth from use that they felt like silk.