Wheat History Comes to the Farm

Many years ago, Brian and I were on the floor of the Minneapolis Grain Exchange. It's a beautiful old building with so much history for wheat growers and commodity traders. Just imagine all the buyers, sellers and bushels that have traded through the grain exchange.
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There were rows and rows of cash grain tables and I joked that if one ever came up for sale, I would buy it.  Brian agreed, and it has been a long running joke about how we'd have to add onto the house when I get my table.  It was a great joke, until it became a reality.

In October, I received a press release from the grain exchange announcing the auction of 7 tables.  I submitted my earnest money, watched Brian panic, and eventually won an auction for table 2. 

Now I had to get the table from Minneapolis to Stephen.  I found the website uship.com and found a shipper.  Of course he backed out (I guess that's pretty common on the site). The grain exchange wanted the tables gone by Nov 30, so I found another shipper who would haul the table to my aunt's garage in the suburbs, and eventually bring it to Stephen when he could fill his trailer. 

This table has no practical purpose. It's too big to fit through a doorway. Another buyer mismeasured, and had to cut the table in half to get it into the office. It will make a great lefse making table next Christmas. For now, the table is parked next to the air seeder. We do need to replace the sunroom on our office because it's leaking. When we replace the wall, we could slip the table into the office.  The downside is that the office isn't that big, and the table would be stuck there for life, or until we punch a hole in the wall. 

For now, I have one of these pieces of history.  I never dreamed I would actually own a table. Now I need wheat prices to rally enough to justify a new addition to my house, or a bigger office. You're welcome to come and visit this piece of history.