The Scheckels operated a 9 ½-foot Moline tandem disc. Four rows of disc blades were angled so that the rounded discs met the soil sideways. Each blade was about a foot in diameter. There were troughs on top of the disc so that weights could be added. The weights would push the disc blades deeper into the soil. Timbers or rocks were used as weights.

Next step was to drag the field. We owned three sections of Lindsay drag that could be pulled by tractor or horses. The drag had an adjustable pitch. The drag teeth could be set slanting back when transporting from field to field, or the teeth could be set vertically, so they dug down into the soil. While the disc was heavy and needed a tractor or three horses, the drag could be pulled by a team of two horses.

The plow turned the soil over, the disc harrow smoothed the mounds of dirt, and the drag fine-tuned the earth. The ground was now ready for planting. The Earth was ready to receive the seed.

It just seemed we were following the biblical prescription. “And other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” Mark 4.8