Thrashin’ Time takes us back to autumn days in North Dakota in 1912, when farmers worked the land with sturdy draft horses and a new-fangled machine called the steam traction engine. The story opens with young Peter’s first look at the engine— blue boiler and red wheels, puffing smoke and hissing steam, gears spinning and rods stroking back and forth— and old Mr. Torgrimson’s wise prediction: “You know, Peter, you’re witnessing the beginning of real scientific farming.”