Sunday, August 23, 2009

Farm Auctions 101



I left home while it was still dark.  I had waited for this day for months.  I was ready.  My bag was packed with everything I could possibly need to spend the day at a farm auction...enough clothing to be comfortable in any type of weather; rain, snow, wind, mud, heat....you name it, I had it.  I also had footwear options to change 3 times, if needed.  (I would soon discover that my Doc Martins, or what I call my "sh-- stompers", were perfect due to mud, thistles and the various farm animal waste products.)  By the time I drove through Aitkin County, the sun was rising.  It was an orange glow that promised to be a beautiful day.  After a week of cool, rainy weather, this was too good to be true!  Three hours later, I arrived at the auction sale -  an hour early, a must in my book!  I had driven through absolutely beautiful farm country, rolling hills, fields planted in a patchwork quilt pattern, and pristine Amish farms.  The auction was on one of these type of beautiful Amish farms, with a red barn and outbuildings and a big ole freshly painted white house.  I was greeted by the young boys assigned to tell people where to park...the Amish horse and buggy's on the side of the driveway with large shade trees and good grazing pasture for the horses.  The English with their cars and trailers parked across the road in the thistle field.  I didn't mind, I was wearing my Doc Martins.  So the first thing to do when arriving at an auction, is to get your bidding number, especially if you're not early!  Next, I discovered the machine shop had been turned into a market to sell homemade baked goods.  (This is not normal at a farm auction...just the Amish farm auctions!)  I could tell this was the goodie building by all the Amish women carrying baskets through a side door, and the accumulation of men by the front door!  WOW, I loaded up on homemade noodles, pickled beets, jams, jellies and homemade bread.  My first purchase of the day was stellar!!  The next very important step in attending an auction is to "scope it out".  Start going through all the items waiting to be sold and decide what you want to bid on.  However, NEVER appear too anxious over an item as to give away your strategy to the competition!  At this auction there were things I definitely would not be bidding on, but were so fun to see...sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks, and hundreds of horses, buggies, sleighs, wagons and horse drawn farm equipment.  And did I mention crates of vegetables and bags of newly hand-stiched quilts?  WOW.  It was somewhat overwhelming, but extremely interesting.  Also at this auction there were two auctioneers calling, so you had to know the route each one would be taking in order to not miss out on your items.  My very favorite part of the auction is listening to the auctioneers.  There's almost a hypnotic rhythm that whips you into a bidding frenzy.  You have to be careful not to get wrapped up in it.  You also have to be careful not to wave, scratch your nose, or signal in any way as you just might buy something!  This particular auctioneer moves very, very fast.  I've been to his auctions before and have missed out on something because I couldn't keep up.  I was determined that today that would not happen.  This would not be an auction for first-time bidders.  You had to know what you wanted, jump in right away, never hesitate with your bidding and know your limit!  The key is to position yourself so the auctioneer AND at least one assistant can see you.  Luckily, I got a spot right up next to the first wagon and 2 assistants.  Once you start bidding on a couple primitive items, they know what you like and will look to you to see if you're interested.  If you're not interested in a particular group of items, "proper" auction etiquette is to back away and let those that are interested have the prime spots.  Luckily, the items I was interested in sold first...old sleds, boxes, crates, milk bottles, old wheels, a couple stools and milk cans.  I was done with my spending spree by noon!  That's when I noticed the crowd of people had grown beyond 1000!  WOW, I don't think I've even been to a farm auction as large as this.  So the rest of the time I participated in another favorite auction activity, "people-watching".  I must say, the Amish were probably more interested in me, than I them!  Can we talk lunch?  With all these people they didn't have the typical "lunch wagon".  Instead, a huge outdoor grill had been set up under a tent and they were frantically trying to keep up with the demand for turkey legs, sausages and hamburgers, all served on homemade buns.  I waited in line nearly an hour to get my hamburger, but it was worth the wait!  Another fun thing to do at auctions is to banter with other bidders, since a lot of the time you're waiting anyway.  I discovered a fellow primitive collector who had driven from Bemidji.  Others had driven from the metro area.  So I wasn't the only crazy person to have driven 3 or more hours to enjoy this auction.  Around 1:00, the horse auction began.  Hundreds of people were sitting around the auction ring on the homemade wooden church benches (they had collapsible legs and I sure wish they would have been for sale!)  These serious bidders came to buy horses raised and broken by the Amish.  It had been many, many years since I've seen a pair of large work horses.  It brought back memories of my Uncle Vic who used to give us rides atop his work horses!  At the auction the work horses sold for $2000 each.  Is that good?  There were also small ponies that sold for around $200, and beautiful horses to pull buggies, some sold for $1000-$1500.  Knowing absolutely nothing about horses, I still enjoyed watching the action.  There was a lot of tension in the air between the bidders, the auctioneer, the men driving the horses into the ring and the spectators.  It was very fast paced, highly organized, and did I mention you had to watch where you walked?  With 2 auctioneers working, it looked like things would wrap up around 4:00.  I, however, had seen enough to satisfy my auction fix and headed for home.  It might be a long time before I see another auction as enjoyable as this, I will certainly cherish the memories.










1 comment:

Jaci David said...

Kathy--Sounds fun! If you ever want someone to tag along to one of these, let me know. I probably wouldn't buy much, but would love to look--Jaci