When Horses Pulled the Plow: Life of a Wisconsin Farm Boy, 1910–1929

7. Patterns of Work and Farm Life

91 Patterns of Work and Farm Life Work and life on the farm were shaped by the seasons, in a cycle repeated year after year after year. Within the seasonal cycle were a daily pattern and a weekly pattern, repeated throughout the year. The Seasonal Cycle When winter snows melted and the frozen ground thawed and the robins returned from the south, we knew spring was at hand. Preparations for spring’s work had already been made. The harnesses had been washed in warm water, oiled, and repaired if necessary, and the brass parts polished. Oats and other grain to be used for seed had been put through the fanning mill to blow out the light kernels and leave the heavy kernels for planting. Plowshares had been taken to the blacksmith for sharpening. All the potatoes left in the cellar had their sprouts removed so the potatoes would be edible until the new crop was ready. In early spring, the ewes lambed and the sows farrowed. It took two or three weeks before all the ewes had their lambs. The newborn lambs and the ewes were checked carefully to be sure no ewes had 7 92 disowned their lambs. If a lamb died, it might be skinned and the pelt put over a disowned lamb, which was then put with the ewe whose lamb had been lost. It could be quite cold at lambing time, so weak lambs would be brought to the house, wrapped in a cloth, and put in front of the kitchen stove for a few hours to be kept warm and gain strength. When about to farrow, each sow was separated from the other pigs and kept with her litter for a few days after they were born. A litter of six, seven, or eight was hoped for. Calves arrived throughout the year, although it seemed there were a few more in the spring than during the other seasons. In spring, hens started to get “broody.” As many of the broody hens as were needed were put by themselves with a setting of eggs that the hen sat on for the twenty-one days to hatching time. After all the chicks were hatched, the hen and chicks were placed in a small A-shaped house where they stayed all night until the chicks were big enough to be on their own. The broody hens not needed for hatching eggs might be plunged headfirst into the water tank. This cold water treatment usually got them over their broodiness and back to laying eggs. Oats were planted as soon as the soil was dry enough to be worked. The earlier the oats were planted, the better the yield was expected to be. Other grains followed the oats. Around the time of Good Friday, my father put a cupful of tobacco seeds, which were very tiny, into a wool sock. The sock was moistened with warm water and placed in a pan near the kitchen stove. The sock was kept moist. When the seeds sprouted, they were sown in a carefully prepared tobacco bed where they grew until big Patterns of Work and Farm Life 93 enough to be transplanted in the field. Our tobacco bed was always in a new location each year, in a pasture plowed the previous fall. In the spring, this plot was worked into good tilth. Raised beds were made with a rake about three feet wide and perhaps twenty feet long. When the seeds in the sock had germinated, the sock was taken to the new bed. One tablespoon of the sprouted seeds was put in a sprinkling can of water. Can by can, the seeds were applied until all the beds had their seeds. Then a light layer of sand was spread over each bed to help keep the weeds to a minimum. By mid-June, the plants were big enough to be set in the field. Most tobacco-growing neighbors started their plants in the same location year after year. But before the seeds went into the beds, the soil was steamed to kill the weeds. The steaming was done with special equipment attached to a steam engine that traveled from farm to farm. Usually these beds were covered with white cloth over a wood frame. My father always said that the time to plant corn was “when the leaves on the oak trees were as big as...