When the depression hit about 1929 the winter was bad and the hens couldn’t lay many egg. Christmas gifts were only given to the younger members of the family. Theresa asked what I really wanted. One thing I said was a ring with a red set. I got that and a light blue opal necklace also, I felt I was certainly blessed! Opal my birth stone! Adolph saw I could make Christmas wreaths out of cedar branches and add red crepe paper bows, he asked me to make more and he took them to market on Saturdays to sell to customers for 25 cents each to buy Christmas gifts for the little ones under 6 years at home.
chickens
Aunt Naomi’s Story (Part 37)
We would buy chicks early in the spring and put them in the southeast brooder house. Sometime the weather turned cold after we had them in the brooder house, and we had to make a fire in the stove to keep them warm. The wood burning stove set in the middle and there was a two foot screen around it to keep the chicks from getting burned. I had the job of going to the brooder house to “stir” the chicks. If they were not stirred, they would crowd up and trample or smother each other. The floor set a foot above the earth and the floor was made our of ½ inch screen-type wire nailed to two by fours in the floor. This allowed the droppings to fall down to the earth, keeping the “floor” of the brooder house clean. I liked sitting there, stirring the chicks with snow coming down and the wind howling outside listening to all the little “peep, peep, peeps” in my cozy domain.
There was a large chicken house on the south side of the farmhouse. There were roosts and places built for egg-laying. I had to get the eggs and some of the old hens would peck you when you reached under to get eggs. There was a room behind this area but I can’t remember what, if anything, it was used for. I remember playing in there and I think it had some kind of loft area? We did have a pig pen for a while. It was down in the south field by the pear tree.
Photo Friday
Photo Friday
This is an image from Aunt Naomi’s photo album, but I don’t know anything else about it. Can you fill in the gaps?
Life at Schubert’s… by Aunt Bea (part 2)
When there were chickens big enough to butcher, we all picked pin feathers by a 100- watt light bulb that was left in the basement (we had a basement and a cellar). When we were done, we had to store the light bulb again so no one would know we used it. The chickens were packed in ice also. I was too little at that time to peddle. We would set on the front porch and wait for our daddy to come home. We could see the highway from there and watched for our daddy’s car. Mahlon and I would play under the lilac bush with little cars. We made roads and little stick houses. We had little toys that came out of Cracker Jack boxes that we got at the Sunday school picnic. Daddy would give us a nickel to spend at the picnic. In the summertime, I suppose that was our high point. The picnic had prisoners from Algoa Reformatory playing music all day. That was a highlight also. Once, my family got in the Buick and left. The car being full, I was left stranded there. They came later and got me. That was a low time for me to remember. In the olden time, if you had $1.00 that was 20 nickels. I thought my daddy was so rich when he let me have one every time I ask.