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| Ina took this picture, probably in the '30s. Jack is feeding the chickens. |
So
far, this summer of 2018 has not been hot, and this past week we’ve had several days of
unseasonably cool temps – lows in the mid 50s, highs in the 75- to 85-degree
range. “This wouldn’t be so good on the farm,” remarked Mike, “but here in town
it’s rather pleasant.” (We are, of course, confined to town this summer while the farmhouse undergoes repair and remodeling.)
The
summer of 1933 was evidently a cold one. Early in June, Ina wrote:
Dad
[Jack] finished seeding last week and would have been done weeks ago if the
weather hadn’t been so bad. As it is he won’t get to planting before Monday and
probably won’t finish till the middle of the month. June [Jack’s twin brother
on the adjoining farm] is still working his ground. …. We are very busy now
with gardening, the lawn, flowers and chickens. I have 135 chicks, all I’ll
need and then some. The hens hatched good so that job is over, and we are so
glad. Our garden is late and fruit will be scarce.
On
June 3 she wrote:
This is
the second nice, warm day we’ve had in a long time. Dad has finished preparing
the ground and will plant tomorrow or next day.
On
July 30:
If your
paper still comes, you know that we have had very hot weather the past week,
but before [the week was out], it turned so cool that Dad built fire in the
heater two A.M.s (Friday and Saturday). Today is lovely and cool with little
fleecy clouds roaming through the sky.
The
hot weather ripened the grain and hay, so Earle is cutting hay today.
We
are canning string beans, peas and beets now. Today we had young fried chicken
and cherry pie for dinner. Fruit is very scarce here, no cherries or prunes to
speak of, apples scarce and poor, no currants or gooseberries, and only a few
raspberries. It was too wet and cold this spring. We had a good crop of
strawberries and Al and Pearl surely enjoyed them, both eating and picking
them. [Remember – daughter Pearl visited from Canada in July 1933.] We bought
three boxes of apricots the other day, and are getting Loganberries of Bill
Mussers, $1.50 per crate.
And
as Ina was closing her letter, she noted that it was again cool enough for a
fire in the heater this a.m.
Some
summers are like that. KW
4 comments:
For one lunch this weekend, Nick and I had a garden salad. I used some volunteer spinach (bitter!), beets, and sugar snap peas. I'll admit that I added some pecan bits from the cupboard, but everything else was home grown. I pondered how much planning someone would have to do to figure out how to grow all their own food.
Would I estimate that we'd eat beets every week and plan for 52 cans of beets? It seems like I'd almost need to create a meal plan for the entire year. I can barely do that for the coming week! But, if I had a plan for the year and everything was in my pantry, what a stress-free year I'd have!
I think Ina simply canned what was available and hoped for the best. They probably had a good-sized garden. I know she loved garden vegetables. And of course in the summer they had vegetables that don't keep, such as lettuce, cucumbers, radishes, green onions.
Too bad your spinach was bitter. Lettuce can be bitter, too. I'm not into bitter.
Agree - I don't like bitter. What kind of spinach do you plant? We really liked the spinach we had with you one summer. It was kind of curly.
Well, I go to the store, look over the seeds, and grab a couple of packets -- whatever is there. I will have to check my stash of spinach envelopes to see if I can tell you the variety. Or -- you could go to the store, look over the spinach packets, and buy a packet with a picture of curley-leafed spinach.
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