Even with the mechanization of agriculture, labor was still an important
factor on a North Dakota farm. It was especially needed during the
harvest season. Large families were common during this period, providing
additional help in the fields and in the house. Each piece of machinery
needed one or more operators to ensure that all went smoothly. Additional
workers were needed to tend to the numerous tasks associated with
harvesting. They operated the binders to cut the grain, and they stacked
the shocks of grain across the field for them to dry. They collected
the shocks and fed a constant flow into the running threshing machine.
Workers also were needed to operate the steam engine, or tractor,
hitched to the threshing machine. In addition, workers were needed
to haul the grain away from the threshing to the farm granary or the
elevator in town. All these people needed to be fed after a hard days
work. One solution was the cook car which followed the threshing crew.
Usually young women worked in these kitchen on wheels, preparing the
large amounts of food consumed by the workers.
The Pazandak images vividly show the large numbers of people involved
in the farming process. During World War I they employed women to
operate the binders due to the shortage of men. Other times they employed
transient, or migrant, laborers to help during the busy seasons on
the farm.