Potato squad going to Bindal farm 1947

By Douglas Gordon

Potato squad going to Bindal farm 1947

Local school children used to help lift potatoes during what was called the October tattie holidays which was for 2 weeks, where they earned money lifting potatoes to help their parents clothe their children, supplement their income and it also gave the children pocket money as well. A stage was a measured length of ground where the potatoes would land after the potato digger went up the drills to deposit the potatoes on top of the ground for people to lift into hampers.

Adults lifted a measured length called a stage; children got half a stage to lift, depending on their age and the length of stage was measured out by the grieve (farm foreman) who would put a stick in the ground to mark the person’s stage. A stage for an adult could be up to 12 yards for a double row digger. Different ages could have different lengths and different rates of pay. Stages are a northern term. I have heard of Stints further south.

I remember working as a kid on the farm during the tattie holidays, even being the farmers son, I was made to work, which did me no harm as I was treated the same as other children. I remember when we stopped for a tea break what was called a half Yoken, one time my mother had given me tattie(potato) scones instead of bread for my piece. Lunchtime was called a full Yoken when the horses were unyoked and taken in to be fed and watered. But then these old words were still used when we had tractors for doing everything. It is words or names I remember.

The old way to get at the potatoes was the Spinner that scattered the whole drill sideways but often left some buried. Next was the Elevator potato digger that lifted the whole drill and left the potatoes on the surface ready to be picked. In the 1960's with larger tractors a two-row digger became common.

I remember when potatoes were lifted into a trailer by hand where potato hampers that everyone filled from their stages of potatoes were lifted and tipped into a trailer by adults. Which was then to be tipped into potato pits outside and then covered with straw and ground all done by hand.

Then the half ton potato boxes came along, and they were all stored inside. The potatoes were then tipped out of the hampers into the potato boxes then a tractor with pallet forks needed to keep pushing them in, so people did not have far to walk from their stage to put the hamper of potatoes into the potato box. Small children waited for an adult to came along and lift the hampers into the potato boxes.

Also, during April holidays children would be employed to help plant potatoes by hand into the bottom of a drill and once they were planted a shutter on front of the tractor would cover the potatoes with ground.  The shutter had concave shaped rollers to run on the drills (rows) of ground. It had drill ploughs to cover the potatoes from either side with ground.

I remember planting potatoes by hand in the castle field and a blizzard of snow came along; we all went over or through the fence to shelter in Ballone castle ruins till it blew over. Or you had to shelter beside the trailer with chitting trays and tractor from the snow, or showers of rain. Soil dust was the worst problem when chitting trays of seed potatoes were tilted out into the potato hamper which you were carrying with a hessian bag folded over your shoulder and tied with baler twine at the ends on to the hamper. Last years seed potatoes and any soil sticking to them would dry out, then fall as dust when tipping out the seed chitting trays into the hampers.

Potato squad going to Bindal farm in 1947. Photo taken outside the Castle hotel, Castle street, Portmahomack. Dave Shearer was the driver who was also our cattleman.

I found out the names of the children on the trailer and tractor from John Barnetson our grieve, also Madge Mitchell and others, and using photoshop put the names on the photo. Jean Mackay sitting on mudguard behind the driver Dave Shearer worked on Bindal farm during WW2 with women’s land army also Cathy Macdonald worked on Bindal Farm during WW2.

Lifting potatoes by hand in the castle field in 1973 into half ton boxes. Bindal farm, Portmahomack

The potatoes were dug out of the ground by a 2-row potato digger which had a metal share to go under the potatoes and a metal bar web to carry the potatoes over and let the soil fall through the web and the potatoes landed on top of the soil ready to be lifted by hand.

Photo cropped close up showing people bent over picking potatoes into hampers behind the 2-row potato digger going up the potato drills. How many people can you count between the 2 photos. 30+