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There were wagon loads of apples to be picked and hauled to town. It would take days to sort them and pack them in boxes. Then they were carried to a cool brick cellar under the granary. Ve had two or three kinds of apples all winter long. Wagon loads of potatoes were also stored in the cellar, Everything was dug by hand* Potatoes were plowed up and then picked up in 'baskets and sacked. V/e had lots of dxy beans to pick and shell out. Hy mother had irrigated and raised a big garden, and she helped until everything v/as taken care of for winter, before leaving for the house in town for the winter. It is no wonder that she became crippled with arthritis and neuritis in later years. Also in the fall, two or three pigs were killed. The meat was crured, the lard rendered out and put into cans. We often had a beef for winter, too, so we had plenty to eat. We had several milk cows all the time, and raised chickens for our eggs and meat. I was the only girl still at home, so it was my job to come home after school, build a fire in the coal stove, clean up the house, including the breakfast dishes, then cook supper for the family. Mother would go to the farm early to work. Dinner usually consisted of potatoes and gravy, home-cured ham, a vegatable of some kind, and sometimes a pudding or a cake. V/e always had bottled fruit, jam, pickles, etc., which we had put away during the summer. V/e also had plenty of milk and cream. One of my brothers would bring tho milk cows home before dark, and I would help milk all six or eight of them and take care of the milk. I learned to milk when I was about six years old. I suppose at the time, I thought I lived quite a normal child's life* I look back now and wonder how we ever accomplished so much and had any time at all to play. We had wonderful friends, and I realize how ouch 44 |
