Group's reunion shows threshing wheat still a hot hobby

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — At Lee Lashaway's Perrysburg Township farm, the smell of sweet corn and butter drifted through the air, while a long line of people snaked through the front of the field in wait of bean soup.

[...] if you looked past the crowd, you'd see rows and rows of antique yet functional gas engines and tractors, as well as a crisscross of motors in motion across the field.

[...] behind that, streaks of smoke on the horizon marked the main draw of the Five Point Steam Threshers Reunion this year: people threshing wheat the old-fashioned way, with steam engines.

Mr. Lashaway has been involved with the group since his father-in-law first bought a steam engine in 1975 and joined the yearly gathering of people — machinists, farmers, and antique tractor enthusiasts — who have settled on harvesting wheat with their old machines as a hobby.

Families and children milled about, observing the piles of wheat chaff growing alongside the roar of the engines.