It’s well known that Moline, IL is the world headquarters of John Deere & Company. Everywhere you turn, there are things in “John Deere Green”!
And for tractor enthusiasts, there is the John Deere Pavillion where you too --- can do what you always wanted to ---- climb up into the hugest combine you’ve ever seen and see what it feels like to be at the wheel of one of these babies!
When DH and I were first married, he worked on a large production farm up in Eastern Washington State ----but 30 years ago they didn’t have cool combines like THIS ONE!
I know the back light from the window makes it hard to see --- but there I am….ready to roll! This thing is so high tech --- it’s got an ipod dock…awesome! I think I could get tractor-giddy just the same way I get sewing machine giddy!
At this display you can try your hand at driving straight rows…..HA!!!! It’s not as easy as it looks! But you know what? This combine comes complete with GPS “Auto pilot”! It will drive the straight furrows for you, and navigate the terrain via satellite --- SO COOL! ((And good thing too, because I had the crookedest furrows EVER!))
Hey, Baby, wanna climb up into my big green tractor?? *wink wink* LOL!
I really enjoy the old ones though --- these little bits of history that changed farming in such a big way for the “average” farmer. What was previously done by horse and lots of man power --- was now done by machine. It really did change everything. I think I learned more about tractors than I ever thought I’d want to know ----but OOOOHhhhhh don’t you love that John Deere Green all shiny? :cD And the yellow too!
At the gift shop across from the pavillion there were displays of John Deere toys that made me remember my boys when they were little – I would have snatched these right up for them ----or more like, let them choose ONE EACH ((And sneakily buy the second one and stash it back for Christmas as a surprise ---)) Being a mom of boys, this is the kind of shopping I loved to do best with them. I don’t know what it’s about to have to buy pink and frilly things ----
Look! It says SALE! I almost bought one for myself --- -just cuz!
This was one of the fun things that I get to do when I travel ---if it weren’t for this visit, I’d never have been able to sit in a huge combine, or read about this bit of history and how it impacted this lovely town on the banks of the mighty Mississippi, or understand that HERE was the best place for this company in its early day and age because the river was a main means of transportation for the company as well. Freighting up and down the river was a very important part of everything.
And that’s it for our history lesson today --- LOL!
Maybe I need a sewing machine in John Deere Green, too?! :cD
36 comments:
I hope my hometown treated you good! did you go to Quilts by Oz? on the Avenue of the Cities?I hope your hosts took ya to get some of the local dining like Whiteys which has been on FOOD Network, or Country Style...OMG I have not gotten home yet this yr. As for John Deere, my uncle was engineer for them... I grew sick of green a long time ago. hope ya had a good visit:) Amy
Bonnie, I love the idea of a sewing machine in JD Green!! with Yellow trim. You go girl. Thanks for the history lesson...something I always love about your posts.
Glad you made it home safe and sound. Get rested.
Faye
Yes, I think you do! A JD green sewing machine would be fun!
Absolutely, you need a John Deere sewing machine ASAP! Which just so happens to be very similar to Packer colors, a wonderful coincidence! I love how much you enjoy life and find the fun in each day. Thanks for sharing.....
Bonnie, Hubs better be soooo happy you collect sewing machines, and antique quilts instead of John Deehrs! Think of the money you are saving him ( or you) Wouldn't hurt to remind him of that occasionally. LOL It really sounded like you had a great time in the Quad cities, wish I had been there. One day........ Jan
Is there going to be a test on this history lesson? lol Thanks again for sharing. My family were farmers in Michigan where a machine like that would have harvested a field in short order. A JD green sewing machine sounds pretty cool. I love the color green. You could get a set.....one JD green and one JD yellow to sit side by side. LOL! Have a great day! (Do I remember correctly that you already have a yellow Featherweight?)
Bonnie,
I do quilting for "Quilts for Kids" and John Deere just recently donated A LOT of fabric to the organization. It seems they are sponsoring a golf tournament in Florida in June. We have been very busy making MANY quilts with their donated fabric to be delivered to needy children sometime near the tournament. It is nice to see the philanthropic side to such a large company as John Deere.
Sharyn
My four year old son loved this post. It's normal for me to be tripping over tractors all day long. He wants to go to Moline now. And he thinks that a John Deere green sewing machine is a great idea. I agree.
I have to laugh. I live right up the hill from the JD pavillion (Two blocks from the Deere Wyman house I know I know I am kicking myself that I was unable to make the retreat!) and have NEVER been into the museum! How silly is that!
My husbands John Deere Track tractor arrived on Tuesday. We made a deal. I can go to the Australian Quilt Convention on next week in Melbourne and buy anything I want. A quilting machine sounds good. Which one shall I buy? I've been to Moline and to Whittys . Just amazing I even listened to Thriller on the radio today as I sewed. I long to go to Bali to meet you. As a Farmers Wife who loves to Sew as much as her husband loves Sowing.
Buying pink comes for the granddaughters. Then you get to go ape s@#% crazy and blame it on only having boys!
I wanna see the John Deer sewing machine when you get it!!! Ill bet you could SEW some great Quilt seeds with it!
My husband bleeds green......;-)
I definitely think you need a John Deere Green featherweight for your collection. I will keep my eye out for you! LOL! Thanks for the history lesson. I love your stories!
this post reminded be of a trip to texas years ago! we passed huge fields of huge john deere equipment, it was beautiful. thanks for jogging my memory!
Did they happen to have a sign by the cool combine & tractor telling what they cost? I don't think you'd be collecting too many!!
OMG! My grandson was BORN loving John Deere tractors!!! His paw paw has one and his favorite thing to do is to climb up in his lap and go for a ride in it! He would go nuts in that place!!! You look pretty good in John Deere green Bonnie.... I think a machine in that color would suit you very nicely :*)
Im waiting for a John Deere green + yellow quilt, with crooked furrows !
My mind must be running like QuiltnLibraryLady this morning.
What was the pricetag on the combine? Aren't they beautiful!
I have a feeling it's more than a sewing machine.
Too bad John Deere doesn't make a sewing machine....I bet it would really purr!
Happy Sewing :0)
Several years ago I saw a guy that takes old, not working sewing machines and paints them to look like tractors.
It was on Heartland Highways on WEIU.
Phyllis
...and plow those straight rows right down the fabric edge (1/4" of course)...
I so enjoyed this post. My dad was in agriculture, and those tractors are so fun! I would have thought your rows would have been perfect after all that longarm quilting.
I have a 1953 Elna that is almost that color!!!
Ramona from Maine sewnsew@live.com
Yikes, I get palpitations just thinking about the cost of the machinery with the new technology!
Grew up on John Deere, we wouldn't dare own anything else. Keep collecting sewing machines, a combine like that would run 100G and more. I have been wanting to get a Featherweight machine, now I want a JD green Featherweight!!
Two of my kids live in Eastern Washington's Palouse country. One of these days I need to stop at the farm implement store so I can sit in some of those huge machines. We went to the Threshing Festival and watched the steam thresher working and saw the contrast between the steam era cutting and threshing and the modern combining. Pretty amazing! Especially fun for me because my parents lived on farms in ND back in the days of the steam threshers and told stories about threshing days on the farm.
I grew up on a farm in Minnesota and my dad would have only John Deeres. I learned to drive one when I was only about 5 or 6. Had to get us working young.lol. And before we had John Deeres I can remember my dad plowing the fields with a team of horses (Nellie and Colonel) and learning how to ride a horse on my grandparents big work horses. Good times for sure. And now I mow my yard sitting on my John Deere riding lawn mower. Roseann (no blog) Seattle, WA r.kildal@comcast.net
Totally Cool!!!! I understand about the boy toys raising tow myself, and they loved their cars and tractors. I still have a few hiding out in the yard and the garage from when they were little. I could see me buying a couple of those for them. Love the history lesson. I remember riding on the tractor with my grandpa when I was little, milked a cow also.
A John Deer Green sewing machine would be awesome. It would stand out in a crowd at the LQS.
I'm so glad that you took the time to go there. Before all the tractors, combines, etc. existed, John Deere invented the moldboard plow when he lived in a little Illinois town call Grand Detour and the original buildings have been preserved. It's about 30 miles from where I grew up, maybe 60 miles from Moline. When I was still married to a farmer, more than 25 years ago, a big combine cost $100,000....hate to think what one like 'yours' would cost!
Jevne
Bonnie, if you design a quilt in John Deere green and yellow, you'd have all the Moline quilters happy--and probably, the WI Packer quilters as well!
We have one of those combines. I could sit in there all day, oops I have sat in there all day. It is an absolute pleasure. It is nicer that my truck. One time my husband decided that I should take our son to hunter safety class and that I should do it too. I said only if he plans on taking a sewing class. Well, he thought he had me, he said well you'll have to combine until 9 or 10 at night. I said NO PROBLEM. It was one of the coolest things. We have a grain cart and all I had to do was push a button when the grain cart lined up and unloaded on the go. I never stopped, listened to music and had a blast. It is vertually impossible to drag the husband out of that thing, and I know why. LOL He keeps me in the truck hauling the grain around, an ok job too, but not near as plush. We tried to stop in Moline a couple of years ago to tour the JD plant with our son. You have to make reservations. While making our reservation I found out that children have to be 13. Really?!?! Really?! He was 10. So hopefully, when we head to Iowa to pick out 4-H steers late Aug. we are going to say he's 13 (he will be a couple of months shy, but close enough) and finally get to tour the plant. I've had great fun reading all the posts and I keep telling my husband your out there and what you went to visit. I'll try to check out a couple of the places you went. Thanks for all the info and keep it up, love blogging style. :-)
Patti,
My husband took the tour and was totally impressed. They had a tornado drill that day and the sirens went off for 20 minutes. He said that the paint line was awesome!!
Bonnie, I loved reading about the big combine you were "running". It's hard to believe how things have changed in the last ninety years. My father was following the draft horses with a plow on his mother's homestead when he was a boy. They would have loved one of these! Sharon - ssauser@dishmail.net
Where in Florida are you ? I grew up on a farm in Texas . We had several John Deere tractors . We are snowbirds . I was wondering if there is any way I could help . Suzanne from Maine . suzyw.kendrick5@yahoo .com
What a combine? But alas I'm a black sheep. I was raised on red tractors and that green are bad. LOL. My dad had my 2 year nephew telling everyone that. My nephew now 5 still believes that.
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