As told by Betty Sease to her daughter, Annette Sease Stewart
Threshing Days
According to my mom, the threshing machine would make its rounds in the farming community threshing the wheat. Neighbors would help each other. The farm wife’s would fix the huge meals consisting of ham or chicken, wilted lettuce from the garden, mashed potatoes and gravy, pickles, noodles, pie and whatever was available fresh from the garden. The grand meal was served in the dining room on the good table with china. The men ate first and the women and children last.
Women’s Work
Besides the house work, laundry and meals many women helped out on the farm with the animals especially with milking and gathering eggs or feeding the chickens. The man would come around with his milk truck and lift the heavy cans and put the milk cans in the back of the truck. The cats would wait around for milking time to get some of the fresh milk to drink.
Our family raised the jersey cows which were known for their rich cream. My mom said since we had our own milk we didn’t get off the dairy man and it wasn’t delivered in the glass milk cans.
Delbert Brumbaugh with the milk cans
Gardens
They sounded huge! There was the truck garden with rows and rows of potatoes, melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, and strawberries. There was also lettuce, radishes, onions, carrots and red beets along with peas and green beans and cabbage for kraut making as well as boiled cabbage. And sweet potatoes. Had to watch them-the mice liked to get in them too. I believe there was squash or pumpkins for pies as well.
In the orchard was the fruit trees mainly apple trees for sauce, baking and eating. We must have had pears because Mom talked about them being kept upstairs in the “cold room”. There was also grapes for jelly and grape pie.
The horse radish pile was behind the wash house. Good to grate and serve with pork, one of the staples. And we can’t forget the rhubarb patch nearby! Great pie and cobblers came from that patch. I believe my grandma and possibly mom took a start into Arcanum. Later, when my patch was gone I brought home a start from the Arcanum houses to start again on the farm. My family also hunted rabbit and squirrel and Grandma Brumbaugh and the Sease’s liked their fish!
Dale and Betty Sease with her father, Delbert Brumbaugh.
Butchering
Another big job done in the winter because it was cold. Again, neighbors, friends and family helped each other. Mom remembers the pork being greasy and having to clean the intestines to use as casing to put the sausage in. It was then packed in crocks in lard for the year. The salted hams were hung in the back of the wash house.
Cooking was done on the old wood stove which took up most of the kitchen space. It was constant keeping up with the wood and keeping water in the reservoir to have “hot water” for dishes and chores. The big double wash broiler was used to heat water for laundry. Usually those days involved a big kettle of navy beans or soup on wash day as the housewife was busy doing laundry. Fresh gardens were a necessity as well as home canned foods, pickles and preserves and food from the root cellar. There was no refrigerators and freezers. The house was heated by a coal stove that sat in the parlor, now laundry room. Of course no air conditioning. We had screens for the windows and later electric fans. And no in-door plumbing or bathrooms. Just the outhouse! Their water softener was collecting rain water.
My mom, Betty Brumbaugh, working ground with the work horses.
Laundry was done in the separate wash house building. The washing machine was ran by a gas motor. A fire was built in the stove which was used to heat the water. Later the wringer washer was used in the basement and it was fun to help wash and pull the clothes back and forth from washing to rinse water and then into the basket to dry on the clothes line. That was usually my job. After the clothes were dry and taken down they were “sprinkled” with water to prepare them for ironing the next day. Pillow cases and sheets were ironed as well as about everything.
Electricity didn’t come to the Karr Road area until 1930’s so coal lights were used for light and at night.
Mom talked about everyone in the community going to Arcanum on Saturday nights. People would park the streets full and women would visit by sitting in their cars and talking. Mom even went to the dentist on Saturday night! Imagine those open hours! Her dad, Grandpa Brumbaugh, would hang out at the car service place.
Inez Brumbaugh and Betty, my grandma and mother.
There has certainly been a lot of changes in the house, buildings, farming and home living in the country. Today we have electricity to run our appliances, a furnace, hot water heater and water softener plus the central air in the summer to cool down the house. Actually the house stayed fairy cool with a breeze and the shade from the outside trees until it got extremely hot and stayed that way. No more trips to the out house which I was glad I was born later and missed that adventure. We’ve went from the old wood or coal cook stove to instant pots and black stone grills.
Our gardens have shrunk from truck patches to a small plot large enough for some green beans, onions, little tomatoes, lettuce, zucchini, pumpkins and radishes. A little different taste than my mom’s and grandma’s. Now we have bigger lawnmowers to mow and less trees for less leaves to rake. We get our fruit from Brumbaugh’s Fruit Farm, farmers market or the grocery.
One thing that hasn’t stopped or slowed is the flowers. Grandma had her peonies, all colors, and roses. We have kept that tradition while adding some herbs. Grandma was always bringing starts of some sort from her friends to the farm to plant. I do the same although I have cut down because there is no more room! So I share my starts and extras with others. And now my daughter has the “busting out of the seams” look. Grandma would love it! We still can and freeze a few favorites like salsa and make the usual rhubarb-strawberry crisp every spring. Along with those apple dumplings we started with the grandchildren.
So write your story. Create new traditions. Hang on to the old. Those are what makes a lasting legacy. Along with Love of God, family and the memories.
Please follow AWTHS blog guidelines. This content is AWTHS archives as well as credit to the writer and her family photos.