You can find a weed hook on every farm. But you can't find one at the hardware store. I know. I tried. At a Decatur farm supply outlet the young female clerk never had a good understanding of what I wanted, before a supervisor on the phone told her they didn't have anything by that name, whatever it was. At the big box hardware and home supply stores in Forsyth befuddled clerks knew they didn't have anything like that.

"Please tell me where I can get a weed hook?" All I wanted was a common farm tool that is used to cut weeds out of soybeans. All farmers and many non-farm folks have walked soybean fields, and everyone who has prefers it to remain a memory. That may have been the problem in not finding a weed hook, since no one wants one. Except me.

"Do you have weed hooks?" I was in dire need of a good weed hook last Thursday morning to finish cleaning a soybean plot at the Farm Progress Show site, where University of Illinois researchers will demonstrate yield loss as the result of defoliation from Asian Soybean Rust. In the one-quarter acre plot there were a few pigweeds, some velvetleaf, a little morning glory, and a crop of shattercane of Biblical proportion. The family of host farmer David Brix had voluntarily worked quite a few hours at the plot, and it had to be finished so U of I student research assistants can begin removing soybean leaves by hand.

"Where can I find a weed hook in this store?" After what I thought would be an easy errand, I was beginning to think I was an anachronism. Yes, my pre-teen daughters think that, but I could not be that far removed from the weed hook generation. After all, I was my father's main weapon against weeds. I wore out many weed hooks, both home made and commercial.

"You have weed hooks here, I hope?" After being totally unsuccessful in my search, I started wondering if weed hooks had been secretly banned by OSHA or a similar federal agency, since they were known to cause red-colored leakage in the lower leg from time to time. Suddenly, I was saved when I saw the pick up truck of another Farm Progress Show host farmer Marc Padrutt, who was driving through the parking lot of one of those aforementioned stores. "Sure, we've got weed hooks, probably 20 of them at home."

Proudly armed with Marc's freshly-sharpened weed hook, I headed for the research plot to battle the shattercane with a swagger that would have made Don Quixote proud. No donkey, just a red Ford pick-up, and my weed hook. Yes, it was hot. Yes, it was weedy. Yes, my back hurt. But the job was made a lot easier with a weed hook.

There are two lessons to be learned here. First, it is obvious that today's farm has an arsenal of herbicides that have relegated weed hooks to dusty corners of farm shops, and without a daily demand, those hardware and farm supply stores probably won't stock many, if any at all. Secondly, if you have a weed hook stowed away in the barn or shop, clean it up, and leave a note of its whereabouts in your safety deposit box. Do that now, because at the first antique sale after your passing, your kids are going to make a bunch of money.