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Down on the Farm
By Nancy Hampshire Rush
Senior Scribe
Author, My Mother’s Child
The following is an excerpt from my book, “My Mother’s Child.” It
speaks of how farmers in the 1950s worked to provide food for their
families through tilling the fields, planting their crops and later
harvesting those same crops. Darke County was a wonderful place to make
a living in those days and my sister, Jean, and brother-in-law, Dick,
worked side by side through each season to ensure a profitable harvest.
Of course, a farm wasn’t really a farm in the 50s without a herd of
livestock which, in my family’s case, meant cows, chickens and hogs.
This story is my recollection of those days I spent with my sister and
her family, down on the farm...
Jean soon learned what it took to become a farmer’s wife and adapted
quite readily. She worked in the fields right alongside Dick and drove
the tractor when Dick was needed elsewhere. It’s strange that she could
drive a tractor so well but she never got her driver’s license until
after Dick had passed away and she moved into town. She was probably in
her fifties at the time. Perhaps the necessity for getting around on
her own in town was just the impetus she needed. I do remember that she
went to a driving school for lessons and that she drove an old brown
car after she passed her driving exam.
As a farmer’s wife, Jean had to learn to cook for the masses. It was
often her duty to prepare meals for all the farm hands when they were
helping Dick bring in the crops. At the time, the Greenville Orphan’s
Home was located close to their farm, so Dick would hire many of the
teenaged boys from the orphanage to help with the field work. Other
farmers from nearby would also bring their equipment and help with the
harvesting. I can remember Jean saying so many times that being a
farmer was very hard because the workload was so demanding. It seemed
that they never got a day off or time to take a vacation.
As I said, Jean had to learn how to cook large quantities of food in
order to feed the majority of the field hands when they were helping
Dick plant or harvest his crops. One of the dishes I remember she made
was chili soup. She always added sugar – to reduce the acidity of the
tomatoes I assume – and rice. I guess adding rice to the soup made it
go farther and that was probably her intent. As a kid, I ate about
anything as long as it didn’t have onions or peppers in it, so I
remember her soup as being pretty good although I didn’t care much for
the sweet taste of the sugar.
I was pretty young back then, but was still given the responsibility of
“bringing in the cows.” This meant that I had to go way out to the
pasture with their dog Jack and head the cows toward the barn for
milking. Milking the cows was done by hand and I became pretty good at
that too. I still remember both Dick and Jean sitting on their milk
stools with lots of little kittens running around their feet. They
always treated them by squirting warm milk from the cows into the
hungry kittens’ mouths. And it seemed as if there were always new
kittens in the barn for me to play with.
I remember how Dick sometimes kept the cows in the barn and the
bulls in the pasture for the most part. I never did like the bulls
because they always looked so mean! Needless to say, I had a very
healthy respect for them and stayed as far away from the pasture where
they were grazing as much as possible.
A not-so-funny story about the bulls involved a mishap Dick had with
one of them. It seems that this particular bull was especially nasty
and Dick had had more than one run-in with him. Well, this one day,
Dick was working in the same pasture where the bull also happened to
be. However, the bull was a good distance away and Dick felt pretty
certain that he wouldn’t give him any problems. This proved to be a bad
idea because the next thing Dick knew, the bull came charging at him
and just missed horning him. Luckily for Dick, he had been working with
a pitchfork and, as he made a quick jump over the fence, he stuck the
pitchfork right in the back of that old bull’s neck. It didn’t even
faze him! He just kept right on coming at Dick. Well, Dick was on
the “safe” side of the fence so he didn’t get hurt, but the very next
day the bull made a pretty quick trip to the market…
After the milking was done and all the milk buckets were filled, we
would pour the warm, creamy milk into big, silver cans. The cans had
lids that fit over them so nothing could get into the milk; the lids
also ensured that the milk would not spill out. Then these were
placed in the big horse trough that set right outside the barn where we
did the milking. The milk cans stayed in the trough until the milk
truck picked them up. I can still remember how cold the water was in
the horse trough, even in the summer.
Winter was also a special time for making a trip to Jean’s; this was
when Dick butchered the hogs and the whole family would show up to help
with the chore. Dick had a special room he used in the barn just for
this purpose. He would kill the hog - don’t know how he did this
because I never saw this part - tie it up by its front hooves and raise
it up on a pulley. Then he would bleed it out, clean the insides, and
singe all the hair off. I don’t really remember how he cut it up but I
do know that each family member had a specific job in the processing of
the hog. But the best part of all was eating the cracklings while they
were still warm. Those days were really fun.
Life on the farm had its ups-and-downs for Dick and Jean and times were
often very demanding. I’m not sure exactly when they moved from their
farm on Horatio-Harris Creek Road and purchased the farm on State Route
502, but I do know that Dick and Jean’s level of dedication remained
the same, regardless of whether they owned the land or simply rented
it. Dick worked very hard out in the fields each day and Jean usually
worked right along beside him.
“My Mother’s Child” is a
collection of stories of the Hampshire family in Darke County beginning
in the early 1800’s. It is steeped in county history with dozens of
photos, and is a ‘must read’ for Darke County history buffs. “My
Mother’s Child is available at Garst Museum, Bear's Mill, Montage,
Heads or Nails by Candy and Fair Photo Express in Greenville, the
B&B Frame Gallery in Arcanum, Corner Cupboard, the Antique Mall and
Hair Productions in Union City and Curves and the Randolph Grille in
Winchester, Indiana for $25.00. Or you can query the author by emailing
County News Online at www.countynewsonline@gmail.com for further
information. Copies mailed will include a shipping and handling charge.
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