The chores came first!

Dear Diary

Spending summer vacations in the country for us kids wasn't all "running through the cool grass or the raindrops when it rained." We had chores to do, too. They came first. The cows HAD to be milked twice a day. The animals HAD to be fed.


First: We helped the grown-ups tend to and feed the animals:

• hay for the horses,
• mash for the cows,
• slop for the pigs and
• dried cracked corn for the chickens who ran free in the barnyard

We gathered eggs from the henhouse
The cats and dogs got leftovers from the table - probably because there was no refrigeration as we know it today.

We had a real ice box that held a big block of ice to keep food cold (cool would be more like it). It was used mostly to keep crocks of fresh milk and prepared foods cool until meal time. We made our own butter, taking turns churning it. I ate the butter, but couldn't bring myself to drink that fresh milk. And I never learned to milk a cow; tried … couldn't get the hang of it. (No pun intended. I'll just stop there with that train of thought. ^.^)
 

Second: We tended to the gardening

Chores also meant weeding or picking fruits and vegetables as they came in season. We hated weeding. We didn't mind picking strawberries until our backs got tired. Blackberries were a stand-up chore. We gathered the fallen peaches and early apples and picked the ripening ones from the trees. The grown-ups made the pies (must have been about 10 of them) for the week and kept them in the cool parlor on a table covered with a linen cloth.


We grabbed grapes from the vines as we ran by and ate tomatoes fresh off the vine without washing them (we rubbed the dust off on our clothes) … hoping we wouldn't get caught eating the pickings or soiling our clothes.