Looking at the picture I chose brings a chuckle as I think of my Grandma’s amazement at all the to-do over staying home today. Until her husband died, leaving her with six kids to raise alone, that was her main priority – staying at home. Grandpa refused to have his wife working outside the family. What an insult to his masculinity and her femininity!
How Grandma Started the Day
Filling Grandma’s days never posed a problem, as she rose at 5 a.m. to cook on her wood stove. A hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, biscuits that could melt in the lucky eater’s mouth, cane syrup and fresh-churned butter covered the table Grandpa made with his own hands. Other mornings, red-eye gravy, those fabulous biscuits and sausage from the one pig they raised each year just for that purpose, filled the stomachs of her brood.
Wash Day
Wash day put that stove or a big fire built in the back yard to other uses. Water boiled, to add to a wash tub with the soap Grandma made, and a scrub board along with willing hands, got those clothes ready for more boiled water. There the rinse took place before she hung the clothes on lines strung from tree to tree.
The fire in the wood stove stayed lit in preparation for cooking dinner (lunch to the unknowing). Grandma did no sandwiches, unless a biscuit had something stuffed inside. On an off-day, with biscuits left from breakfast, fried ham, syrup and butter completed the meal. On days when she had no biscuits, she either made another batch, cooked a pan or two of cornbread, poured glasses of ‘raw’ milk, straight from the cow and no one complained.
No Stores For Grandma
By the time everyone ate lunch, Grandma washed the dishes and cleaned the stove, wind and sun dried the clothes. Next came sprinkling them down, rolling them into balls, stashing in a pillowcase and setting up the ironing board. Grandma ironed until time to put supper on, the biggest meal of the day. First job, wring the neck of an unfortunate chicken. Next, she put it in another tub of boiling water to loosen the pin feathers when she plucked the fowl. For fried chicken, she knew how to cut it up in the right pieces. Add butcher to her growing list of talents.
Most of what Grandma’s family ate and used came from working their own hands. A trip to the store? Never happened unless she needed buttons and material for the clothes she made. Rags from old clothes or scraps from sewing ended up recycled into quilts and throw rugs. An original recycler, Grandma knew nothing about ‘save the world’ groups. She just knew if you don’t waste, you don’t end up needing!
Recreation Time
As supper came to an end, Grandma, once again, cleaned the table, dishes and kitchen. She never left her kitchen in a mess to clean the following day. Recreation crowned the day’s work. For at least an hour, the kids, Grandma and Grandpa played checkers, Chinese checkers and told stories of the adults’ childhoods. By sundown, everyone readied themselves for bed.
On the brief times when recreation or ‘free time’ fell during the day, the front porch added fresh air, the ability to keep an eye on playing kids, and a cool breeze. That front porch also saw its share of work as Grandma sat outside shelling peas and beans. Sometimes she shucked corn, slid peels off tomatoes and peaches after putting them to hot water to loosen the peels. No one wanted a house without a front porch. Next to the kitchen, it saw more activity than any other place in the house.
Keeping the Kids Busy
In those days, kids had no problem finding something to do either since, if you lived on a farm, your parents made darned sure you knew what to do for every occasion. You learned to feed animals, plant, fertilize, grow, and weed crops, recognize if an animal needed veterinary help, which was provided by the adults. Veterinarian bills ran too expensive for most farmers, so they learned to doctor, give shots, sew up whatever needed doing.
The kids learned to sweep yards, yes, sweep yards. That was considered a sign of a decent family, who had pride in their home. Wooden porches and wooden floors, where air blew up through holes made from shrinkage of the boards, got swept and mopped often.
Sunday, a Neighborly Day
Sundays, church days, allowed everyone to see their neighbors and catch up on the latest news or gossip. Church singings invited churchgoers and non-churchgoers alike. Along with the wondrous singing, came a spread of food to feed the masses. Everyone showed off their best dishes to accolades from friends and neighbors alike.
Sew, Sew
On Tuesdays, Grandma finished the ironing. after making beds with freshly washed sheets and cleaning the house. Then, if after meals, she had time, she took out the basket of mending materials. No one threw away a blouse, shirt, dress or pants, just because it had hole or buttons missing. Patches adorned many pieces of clothing, long before the ‘modern’ woman tried to make it fashionable. Again, that was considered badges of honor, as the woman of the house, didn’t waste anything.
Living Off the Land
Wednesday, after cleaning house, Grandma set out to help Grandpa in any way possible. Along with acres of corn, beans and other produce, Grandma had her own garden for herbs. She would have laughed at buying bottles of thyme and sage when she could grow them herself. With a large enough bounty, she dried those not used fresh.
What few hours might have been left in any given week were lost as soon as the crops came in. Grandma canned anything and everything she got from the garden. She owned no freezer. Nor did she have a special room for her canned goods. Grandpa gave over a portion of the barn to store the jars and jars of foods.
Time Savers – That’s the Joke
Yes, today, Grandma would laugh in amusement and amazement at the whining going on. I can her now, “Well, you built all those ‘time-saving’ machines’ and I got to wonder why? Because here you are with all the time you could possibly use, and you don’t have a clue how to use it.