Previously, as we learned about school days in the 1930s and 40s, there was no mention of sports, events or discipline! Time to correct that...
A 1940s Classroom
When I initially asked Aunt Grace about discipline in school, she seemed to be a bit taken aback and really needed to think about it. It may be difficult for a lot of you to imagine, but kids then were generally well-behaved and respectful toward their teachers and one another! Possibly because they knew misbehavior and disrespect would not be tolerated and there would be accountability or punishment. She remembered that, occasionally, someone would be threatened with a trip to the principal's office, although she has no idea what would happen when they got there!
Paddles, hung in a prominent place to make kids "sweat," had holes drilled in them to cut down on air resistance as the paddle was swung.
One time, in Ila Harris' class, Principal Clayton came into the classroom and batted Kenny Tower around! Mr. Clayton hit him with an open hand and Kenny fell on the floor. It's hard to imagine that kind of behavior from a principal in today's world, but I'd be willing to bet that Kenny never committed the offense that had Mr. Clayton so angry again.
Reeve Thompson
There was a music teacher in Oswego, Reeve Thompson, who now has a school named after him. He apparently had little or no use for Ray who had no use for school. Aunt Grace remembers Mr. Thompson telling Ray that he'd "never be anything more than a ditch digger." That comment seemed to have a considerable impact on Ray. I remember him saying, on occasion that he was never going to be any better than a ditch digger.
1940s Prom Dress
None of the Zielke girls had the opportunity to shop for the perfect prom dress. Dances, in general were not allowed at Oswego High School. The reason is not really known; all Aunt Grace knows is that the school board wouldn't allow them.
1930s Christmas Pageant
They may not have had dances, but the schools did hold other activities and events, like Christmas pageants. Aunt Grace remembers one in particular when they were all lined up on the stairs to go sing, when that snotty kid, Richard Young (who was dressed as a shepherd, so kind of like a dress) decided to slide down the banister! "Poor" Richard got a splinter in his butt and she remembers thinking that he deserved it!!! The splinter must have been embedded pretty deeply because they had to call Dr. Weishaw to come remove it. Old snotty Richard later became a conservationist and there is a park on Nelson Lake Road in Batavia named after him.
Atomic Bomb
Remembering old classmates, Aunt Grace remembers the Young family of three boys and one girl whose dad, Dwight, was frequently gone out of town. They didn't know it at the time, but found out later that he was in New Mexico working on the atomic bomb!
1940s Basketball
Finally, we come to sports! Oswego didn't have a football team or girls' teams. Basketball was the big sport for the school and Aunt Grace used to go to all the games! She'd ride the bus to the away games and she had a good, loud voice for cheering her team on! Apparently, she could become quite animated in her cheering as well. She used to have a little, round drawstring purse with a mirror on the bottom. In the winter of '43, she was at the Yorkville vs Oswego game and was approached by a referee. He came to tell her that he had received a complaint about her from a spectator on the opposing side. It seems that, in her enthusiasm, waving her arms about, the mirror on the bottom of her purse would catch the light and blind people on the other side! She found out years later that the complainer was none other than Austin Pope! Some people are just destined to connect!
I don't know what it's like for you when the kids get together, but when my kids get together, I ALWAYS learn something that I never knew about when they were growing up! It's like all the pacts they made growing up have no bearing anymore; like they aren't afraid of getting in trouble anymore! The stories frequently begin with "Do you remember when...?" I imagine it could have been similar with the eight siblings whenever they got together.
Aunt Grace doesn't remember many conversations that began just like that, but there were a few. Frequently, as I'm talking to Aunt Grace, she'll have a side memory that she'll throw into a memory. They don't always fit into the conversation we're having, but they are definitely worth sharing!
1927 Ford
1927 Chevy
"Do you remember when Ray said, 'Hey Berdie! Can you put a Chevy tire on a Ford?" The family had two cars at the time. A 1927 Ford and a 1927 Chevy. Apparently one day, before she was married, Aunt Bertha was going to take Grace (about age 4) and Ray (about age 7) somewhere. They were going to take the Ford, but it had a flat tire. Realizing the dilemma, Ray came up with a solution... that he was teased about for the rest of his life.
"How about the time Grace nearly drowned?!?!" Uncle George worked at the gravel pit and one day the family went there to swim. Henry and Emily took Helen, Ray & Grace; George and Emily and Bertha and Burdette were all there. Everyone was having a good time and Aunt Grace remembers running down the sand into the water. Suddenly she slipped and remembers seeing the bubbles in front of her face as if it was in slow motion. She was going down for the third time when Burdette saved her! She always gave him credit for her life. After that, all the kids went for swimming lessons. Grace went for lessons four times, but couldn't get the hang of it. She couldn't handle the water in her face. After the fourth time, she was asked not to come back.
Then there was that time that Ray fell out of the cherry tree! "Ma" had sent Ray out to pick cherries for a pie. He fell out of the tree and landed on a spike from the picket fence next to the tree. Grace found him bleeding from a gash in his side. Although he begged her not to "tell Ma," she did. Fortunately, they were able to patch him up at home and didn't have to take him to the hospital, but it's still a mystery as to what he was doing that he didn't want Grandma to find out about. Maybe he spilled the cherries?
How about when Dorothy was about 2 years old and she cried and cried over her first haircut? She had straight, thick hair that was apparently getting in her eyes. Poor Miem (aka Big Aunt Emily)! She was only cutting her bangs!!!
What about the day the cobbler (shoe repairman) thought George was Grace's FATHER?!?! George had taken Grace's shoes in for repair and when it was time to pick them up, Grace couldn't find the ticket. When the cobbler couldn't find the shoes, Grace told him that her brother had dropped them off for her. Familiar with George, the man replied that it was her father who had dropped them off, NOT her brother.
Grace in Wedding Dress
If you think that's bad, remember when Berdie took Grace into Chicago on the bus to shop for her wedding dress at Marshall-Field? As Grace was trying on dresses, the saleswoman would tell Grace to go show her "mother" and see what she thinks! They laughed about that one for years!
Try Corn Silk!
And how about the way Ray was always begging Grace, "Don't tell Ma!!!" like the day she caught him and his friends smoking corn silk in the pig barn? That was one time Grace kept his confidence and never did say a word. To Grandma, at least. Times like that are the times that probably did a lot to grow trust between the siblings.
Think about it. You all have dirt on your siblings. I know I knew things about my brothers that I never told my parents; especially Al (sorry brother!). These memories are the things that cement the trust and make for some good laughs in our old age. Those were the days...
I have been looking forward to writing this post for two months!!! This is from one of the first interviews I had with Aunt Grace and is my favorite for three reasons:
I always loved school, loved teaching school and have many good memories myself.
The clarity and detail of Aunt Grace's memory is AH-MAY-ZING!
Aunt Grace just seemed to light up as she thought of more detail and stories to share!
Aunt Grace and Aunt Marge felt fortunate that because of where they lived, they got to go to school in Oswego and not the one-room schoolhouse. First thru third grades were in the little white schoolhouse, a two-room school that had a total of 30-40 students with 15-20 in each room. One class had all the first graders and half of the second graders while the other classroom had half of the second graders and all of the third graders. Fourth grade through high school were all in the larger school where the Oswego Post Office is now.
Her first grade teacher was Isabelle Ruble; fourth grade was Ila Harrison. She had the same teacher, Virginia Crossman, for second, third and fifth grades! Apparently she built quite a relationship with Miss Crossman who married Pete Campbell. Aunt Marge used to babysit for the Campbell children and Aunt Grace had the use of their cradle for all four of her girls!
Four of the Zielke children graduated from high school; the other four did not. George, Henry and Bertha attended school in Downers Grove before they made the move to Oswego. Each of them went through eighth grade. When Ray had to repeat first grade, it probably helped Grandma realize that academia was NOT his thing, because Aunt Grace doesn't remember that she was very upset when he decided to quit school when he was sixteen, probably the end of his freshman year.
Aunt Grace believes it was probably good that Ray did leave school because the boys he hung out with weren't of the best character. After Ray left school and no longer hung out with them, that group harassed Principal Melvin Attig so much that he committed suicide by driving in front of the third rail train! This young principal (only 30-40 years old) had been one of Mary Ellen's teachers at East High in Aurora before he became the principal in Oswego. The Oswego mayor's son, Andrew Pierce, was one of the boys in the group and probably a major reason that the boys were only punished with community service.
Aunt Grace did well in school and got good grades, especially in spelling! She said she probably got an early boost on her education as she would sit at the table with Grandma when she was helping Ray with his schoolwork after failing first grade. Homework was always done sitting at the dining room table in the evening. She also remembers that there were no bookbags back then. You carried your books and sometimes they were pretty heavy. I suppose that's why boys got the idea to offer to carry the books for girls they were sweet on; an opportunity to showcase their muscles!
1927 Hardcover Edition "Many stories of animals and birds, nature, festivals and slumberland. 144 pages; a great book for the young reader."
Remembering different subjects through her school years, Aunt Grace shared these memories:
Reading: They learned to read using a series of Elson Readers. Pictured above is the Primer; the rest of the books in the series look very similar. These were the pre-Dick and Jane books as Dick and Jane made their first appearance in 1930 in the Elson-Gray Readers. The Elson Readers consisted of individual short stories as noted in the caption above.
Math: There were no textbooks. The problems were written on the board and worked on paper. They also had worksheets created through a type of gel-ink pressed onto the paper; the pre-cursor to the dittos we can all remember.
Spelling: There were new words presented each week with a test given over the words, just as we all learned to spell. Aunt Grace loved spelling and got really good grades in it!
Penmanship: In those days, children were only taught cursive from the beginning and they practiced daily.
In the upper grades, more subjects were added:
Geography: Aunt Grace particularly remembers learning about the Tigris and Euphrates River System in western Asia. She wasn't certain why that memory stood out.
Euphrates River Iraq
Science: No memories to share there, other than the fact that she didn't like it!
Music: In fifth grade they started music lessons. There was a piano in the classroom and Reeve Thompson was the music teacher.
English: Aunt Grace LOVED diagramming sentences. In fact, she enjoyed it so much, she believes that had she continued her education, she probably would have become an English teacher!
Sentence diagram for "Giraffes can clean their ears with their long tongues." Can you name all the parts of the sentence?
Mathematics: Aunt Grace made it through Algebra, but called it quits at Geometry! Math was not one of her favorite subjects. She spent a lot of time with her friend, Lyle, who helped her get through Algebra. Looking back, she's certain that Lyle was gay. It wasn't anything she suspected back then. In those days, no one said anything or talked about it, although she believes the boys at school probably knew.
Home Economics: The girls took three years of Cooking and Sewing classes back then. The school board purchased the "Home Ec House" a block away from the school and the girls would go there for class. The cooking classes were taught downstairs while the sewing classes were taught upstairs where they had high sewing tables. There was also a meeting room upstairs.
A Home Ec Classroom
In addition to cooking and sewing, Home Ec classes typically taught girls how to care for themselves and their homes. Aunt Grace remembers that on the first day of class, Mrs. Schmidt gave the girls an assignment to go home and cut out pictures of deodorant from magazines. Poor Grace didn't know what deodorant was and the only magazines they had at home were The Farm Journal. So, she cut out pictures of Lysol! To help you understand why she would have chosen that, I'm sure the discussion about deodorant included hygiene. The following is a Lysol ad from a Farm Journal in the 1940s!
Finally, there were typing and shorthand classes. These classes were beneficial for girls looking toward a career after their school years. Some girls went on to the Metro Business College for 6 months to enhance their skills. Aunt Grace had to take a typing test to get her job with the Civil Service during World War II, so the skills she learned were definitely to her benefit.
A typing class in the 1940s
Aunt Dorothy was the only one of the eight who went on to college after graduating from high school. She attended Northern Illinois University in Dekalb where she lived in a house with a group of other girls. There were 4-5 bedrooms with 2 girls per room with a refrigerator in the basement. Dorothy majored in Home Economics, specializing in Cooking. She taught for awhile and later opened a preschool in the church basement.
As we think about Aunt Grace's experiences and compare them to our own, it's obvious kids then had experiences similar to our own, to our children and even to our grandchildren. Some of us liked school. Others didn't. Some did well in school. Others didn't. Typically, we have favorite subjects and those subjects that make us think we'd prefer a poke in the eye! There were bullies and will probably always be bullies. Some of us were bullied; others of us may have been the bully, even unintentionally! (Time for some self-reflection right there!) There were kids who were "different" and probably suffered for it. Maybe we were the "different" ones. Some of us couldn't wait to get out of school and swear we didn't learn anything in school to help us in the "real world." Others chose to go on to college or technical schools earning certificates or degrees and rely on that education to do our jobs every day. One thing for certain that we all share, is that our time in school provided memories and had an impact on our lives. That, we all have in common!
Lux Laundry Detergent Ad "Lux won't shrink your woolens"
One thing that has become VERY clear to me through my interviews with Aunt Grace is that farm life was hard work and it required everyone doing their share of the work. Today we're going to learn about some of the chores and consequences of NOT completing those chores. Keep in mind that this information is from Aunt Grace's view. It doesn't discount the work that the older five did when they were still home or the work the younger two had to do after she left home, but we can imagine that each of our parents had to do their fair share of these chores (and others) in their time at home. One additional note, if you remember the earlier post about the move to Oswego, the oldest three (George, Henry & Bertha) moved to and ran the farm before the rest of the family came. This undoubtedly meant that George and Henry did the farming and took care of the livestock while Bertha ran the household; three teenagers/young adults taking on FULL responsibility and being left on their own. Chores were an expectation of living. Chores entitled them to a roof over their heads, clothes on their backs and food in their bellies. There was no allowance and they knew they had responsibility to the family survival. Chores on a typical day looked like this:
Bring wood/kindling into the house for use in the cook stoves. There was one stove in the kitchen used for cooking and another in the basement for heating water for the laundry.
Wood-burning Cook Stove*
Dishes had to be done after every meal. Aunt Grace remembers thinking it was unfair that she never got to wash. Marge washed them, Grace had to dry. It may have caused an occasional spat between the two....
Housework. In the summer months, at least, the housework fell to the girls while Grandma was outside tending to her garden. Grandma apparently loved being outdoors and loved the garden, so she taught the girls to do all the housework, including the canning of various home grown veggies.
Throwing silage was discussed in our farm tour and took about a half hour out of their day.
Helping Grandpa milk the cows fell to Grace after Ray left home and never fell to Marge or Dorothy as the family had moved to "the Barker house" by the time it would have been their turn to help.
Family chauffeur. Grandpa never drove a car with a stick shift for multiple speeds after the family accident. He was not mechanical and could not get the hang of it; fearful of killing the family. Grandpa would still drive the Model T, but never one of the newer cars. Henry taught Ray to drive, who in turn taught Grace to drive handing down the chauffeur responsibilities. Marge never liked to drive and rarely did.
Cutting homemade lye soap into bars.
Laundry! Laundry was a major undertaking each week and spanned two days.
Lux Detergent Ad "For Everything You Wash Yourself"
Saturday was "dainty" laundry day and was done by hand in an 18" diameter wash bowl in the kitchen sink. These items were hand-washed with Lux or Ivory Soap.
Monday was main laundry day. Laundry was done with homemade lye soap in the basement during the cold months of the year and in the wash house during the summer months, then hung on the line to dry.
Lye Flakes & Crystals
Lye soap. Lye is made by "leaching" wood ashes. This is done by boiling ashes from a hardwood fire (softwood is too resinous) in soft (rain) water. This results in crystals or flakes that are mixed with rendered lard (from butchering), poured into a form to harden and then cut into bars. (Note: They did not make their own lye, but purchased lye to make into their own soap)
Lye Soap and Bars
Aunt Grace remembers one time when neighborhood child, Diane Reppy, who was about Dorothy's age, put her finger in the container of lye and tasted it! It was extremely painful and caused burns/blisters around and in her mouth!
Water for the laundry was heated in the copper boiler on the cook stove. The cook stove had two plates to accommodate the copper boiler.
Copper Boiler used for Heating Laundry Water
Hot water was poured into the wash tub of the wringer washer. The wringer could swivel around so that excess water could be squeezed out of the clothes before falling into the rinse tubs of cold water.
Wringer Washer with 2 Rinse Tubs**
Bluing was added to the second rinse for whites.
Washing Machine Ad
As a mother of five myself, I know discipline can be a challenge. I was interested about how (and when) they were all disciplined as children. I chose to add discipline to this post, because it turns out that the primary reason they were disciplined was for not doing a chore OR not doing it soon enough after being asked! For example, Aunt Grace said that she would be disciplined for not getting the kindling in to the cook stove as soon as she was told. Understandable, I guess. Not having the wood available to get the stove going could delay dinner or starting the laundry. There was no need for disciplining a smart mouth or bad attitude; apparently they all knew better than to even TRY to get away with anything like that. There was also no waiting 'til their father "got home." Discipline took the form of a "lickin'" and was meted out with whatever Grandma could get her hands on: fly swatter, wooden spoon OR her bare hand if nothing was within her reach! I asked her about a story I remembered hearing from my dad about a time Grandma was after him for a lickin'. Apparently, he had run when he knew he was in trouble and Grandma had him cornered. He knew what was coming and rather than accepting the inevitable, he dove down, slid between her legs and took off in the other direction! Aunt Grace didn't remember that particular story, but she laughed and said it was probably likely. As I write this, I've been reflecting on what an amazing family we claim to be our own. How three people, Reinhold, Louisa & Martha, none of whom completed high school, raised eight children (four of whom didn't complete high school either) to be good, responsible, productive members of society. Those eight in turn have had children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren who have also taken, or will soon take, their own place in the world. As I learn more of the wonderful accomplishments of my cousins, my siblings and all of the younger generation, I am truly amazed that we all came from such a humble beginning. Yet, I feel that as our parents learned responsibility to contribute to the family, they built the solid foundation enabling them to raise us and that we have, in turn, learned to teach our own children and grandchildren. Teaching doesn't always come through a text book and there is much we can learn from those who have gone before us. To honor Grandpa, our Grandmas and each of our parents, please teach your children well.
* This is a cook stove; not necessarily like the ones they had. When I'm able to meet with Aunt Grace in person and look at pictures, I'll ask her to point out one that is closer to the one they had and replace the picture.
**Once again, this is a wringer washer. Picture will be replaced if I'm able to find one with Aunt Grace.
Today's blog, on the eve of Reinhold's 140th birthday, we're going to look at some typical "summer" celebrations with the Zielke family. There were three May birthdays: Reinhold, of course, on 30 May 1880; Helen on 15 May 1919 and Raymond on 27 May 1922. Memorial Day (aka Decoration Day) was also celebrated consistently on May 30th back then.
Because Grandpa's birthday was on Memorial Day, the family's Memorial Day celebration was more typically a birthday party for him. The party was primarily a big family picnic. There would be fried chicken and ham, adding a wiener roast in the later years. There was potato salad, "Little" Emily's Kidney Bean Salad and, for dessert, two cakes: one chocolate the other white. Bananas were hard to come by back then, but if there were bananas available they'd have a real treat: Banana Cream Pie which was Grandpa's favorite!
Reinhold's Family: Early 1950s Back L-R: Helen, Dorothy, Henry, Ray, Grace & Marge Front L-R: Bertha, Reinhold, Martha & George
Most of the rest of the day was spent enjoying time with one another by sitting around, talking and drinking beer. Sometimes, they'd play a ball game in the pasture. Aunt Grace remembers one year when the men took buckets of water out to the pasture to pour down the gopher holes! They sure did know how to have a good time!
In later years, after the family had moved to "the Barker House" from the farm, they would watch the Oswego Memorial Day Parade from the house. The American Legion marched along with the Boy Scouts and the high school band played. There were no floats and no one threw out candy. Uncle Fred and Aunt Emma Witt would come to join the celebration sometimes.
I asked Aunt Grace if they ever visited the cemeteries on Memorial Day. Turns out they took care of that BEFORE the holiday!!! They would usually go to the cemetery in Downers Grove the Saturday or Sunday before and plant geraniums. Grandma (Martha) Zielke also had planted a peony bush on everyone's grave. Aunt Grace said that by doing that, she said she could be sure they'd all have flowers for Memorial Day whether anyone came or not.
After Helen & Garnet moved to Kentucky, the family began to have similar reunion picnics whenever Aunt Helen came home to visit with the kids. When that happened, Helen's kids would get divided up and go to spend time with cousins close to their own ages.
1970 Family Reunion Bob & Marge Kaetzer's House
Since this post began with May birthdays, let's recognize all the family birthdays:
April: George on the 2nd, 1905; Grace on the 23rd, 1925
May: Helen on the 15th, 1919; Ray on the 27th, 1922 & Reinhold on the 30th, 1880
July: Marge on the 29th, 1927
August: Henry on the 27th, 1908
December: Bertha on the 6th, 1911; Louisa on the 14th, 1880; Martha on the 18th, 1890; Dorothy on the 22nd, 1933
Other than the big reunion picnic for Grandpa's birthday, the other birthdays were always "just another day on the farm, WITH A CAKE!" It was usually a white cake with white icing, but SOMETIMES, "Big Emily" would make a special birthday treat of Spice cake with BANANA icing!
Even though the timing is off here, I just feel like I need to end this post with Kool and the Gang, come on, celebrate and have a good time!
While we know that "the farm" in Oswego wasn't Reinhold's first farm, this is the one that holds the memories for Aunt Grace. I'm certain life was pretty similar on the previous farm, although Grandpa did make sure this one had some perks, like electricity, in the farmhouse! The farm itself was 100 acres. They had a HUGE garden that Grandma took care of as she LOVED to be outdoors. Aunt Grace remembers the typical garden produce with a LOT of asparagus, raspberries and potatoes. Grandma taught Grace and Marge to can and they were often left to it while Grandma spent time outdoors in the garden.
They kept about 12-15 dairy cows, a bull, pigs, chickens, ducks, sometimes sheep or geese and a team of horses. As we would expect, the primary goal of farm life was to feed the family and provide for their needs through the sale of the excess production.
Holstein Cattle
While the house had electricity, milking was still a job that had to be done by hand twice each day. Ray helped Grandpa with the milking most of the time while he was home, but Grace had to learn how to do it and did her fair share. She specifically remembers that Marge NEVER had to! She remembers that milking was especially hard for her because she was afraid of the livestock and Grandpa would milk 8 cows in the same amount of time she'd milk 4!
Brown Swiss Cattle
The Zielke herd was one of mixed breeds. They kept a few of the Swiss for their good butter fat, while the Holsteins provided a thinner milk for drinking. They had a bull for breeding the cattle. Fortunately, their bull wasn't a mean one, but he did have his own stanchion to keep him separated from the cows unless his "services" were needed. I know the "citified" among us wouldn't think of this, but it is necessary for cows to calve periodically to ensure they will continue to produce milk for months into the future. Calves would be butchered for the veal, integrated into the herd or sold. Aunt Grace said they didn't frequently butcher the calves as it was harder to preserve the beef than pork from the pigs.
The primary purpose to raising pigs is to preserve the meat. No part of the pig went to waste. The lard was rendered to use in lye soap making, the intestines were cleaned to make sausage casing, blood was collected to make blood sausage and the other various parts of the pig were preserved for later consumption. In our "Staffeldt Family History," we can learn more about the preparation and preservation from Howard Dannenberg*: Lard (fat) was cooked slowly on the stove and then strained into crocks for storage. The bits strained out were like fried bacon and called 'crackling.' They made pork sausage and metwurst (like today's summer sausage). The pork sausage was all fried down, usually in the oven while the lard was rendering, then packed in fruit jars or crocks with the lard poured over it. There were no freezers then. A wash tub would be used to mix sausage The sausage was kneaded and salt and pepper was added in the wash tub. After mixing, it was tasted. A patty was made, fried and tasted to see if there was enough seasoning. According to Howard, this was the best part of butchering, although he never got to be a "taster." The sausage was then pressed into a casing (made from the pig intestines) in a sausage press. The intestines had been washed out and scraped with a silver knife. In scraping, the inner and outer skin was scraped off and the center skin was used for the casing.
Summer sausage (metwurst) was smoked for three days in the smokehouse. They would build a fire of sawdust to just smolder and smoke; too much fire would cook the sausage. After three days, it was left to hang until used. Hams were smoked seven days or rubbed with salt and put in crocks in a brine. Pork liver was not tasty alone, so Howard's mother blanched it in boiling water until it was no longer red, then ground it to make the sausage. Then, they even used the pig head!!! Howard said he had to saw the head, cut the snout off and throw it away, and split the head down the center. The brains were removed and fried. The rest of the head was boiled to add to the liver sausage or added to the ears and feet and legs for head cheese. Pork chops were fried, packed in crocks with a lard cover and then stored in the basement/fruit cellar. When used, they were dug out and heated to remove the lard.
Before the animals could be used for food, however, they needed to ensure the livestock was taken care of so that they were beneficial to feed the family. Primary crops on the farm were corn, oats and hay. Of course in the summer months, the animals were able to graze in the pastures, but preparation had to be done in the summer/fall to be able to feed them in the winter.
Silage was a primary food for the cattle. Silage was basically fermented corn and smelled to high heaven! Corn was chopped while it was still green and then added to the silo on a silo filler. The chopped corn needed to be tramped down to pack it tight so that it would ferment.
Antique silage chopper May not be exactly what the Zielkes had, but it gives you the idea.
Aunt Grace and Aunt Marge didn't have to tramp down the silage, but they did have to throw it down from the silo to be able to feed the cows. The silo was the circular structure on the north side of the barn, about six feet away. It had a cement floor and no roof. They had to climb up the ladder on the outside of the silo to the door at the level of the silage and crawl in to break up the silage.
View of a silo showing doors to enter various levels
Once they got in the silo, they used 5-tine silage forks to break up the silage and throw it onto the chute made of galvanized metal. The chute led to a wheelbarrow at the bottom. They had to work systematically as they broke up the silage to make sure the level of the silage stayed consistent and easy to access the next day. From the wheelbarrow, the silage was taken and dropped in the feed trough in front of the cows to eat. This task alone took about a half hour to complete.
Silage Fork
Oats were ground into a feed for the livestock as well. The oats were stored in the grainery and about once each month, a truck with a grinder would come to the farm to grind oats to make the feed.
"Modern" Amish Hay Loader
While the picture above is a modern Amish hay loader and wouldn't be the same as what Aunt Grace remembers, it gives a pretty good idea of what was involved in the early days on the farm. She says that the hay was cut and thrown onto a wagon and then, from the wagon, a HUGE two-armed hay fork was used to lift the hay and drop it into the hay mow on the upper level of the barn. They would climb the ladder up to the hay mow and using pitchforks, throw the hay down to for the animals. She says she wasn't the most coordinated person (maybe it's in my genes) and while she was okay climbing the ladder to get into the hay mow, she had a terrible time getting back on the ladder to come down! All in a day's work on the Zielke Farmstead!
As I conclude this post, I marvel once again at how difficult life had to have been without all the equipment and technology available to us today. I know my generation has had great benefits, but I think we can all imagine what our parents/grandparents experienced and appreciate them for all they did to help make our lives easier. When next we're tempted to grumble about how hard our lives are, I hope we can stop, take a moment and be thankful we don't have to hand milk the cows, throw the stinky silage down from the silo or eat parts of a pig that I wouldn't even want to look at!
*Howard Dannenberg is the great grandson of Karl Staffeldt, brother of Wilhelm (Martha & Louisa's father)
