LOOKING BACK (Part I) By Helmi Voight

This is a nostalgic visit back to the years of my youth to reveal a vastly different way of life. It was simpler then and less stressful, but it required a lot of stamina. I grew up on a farm where the work seemed never-ending. It was the same for all farmers and its ways were accepted as such.

Our buildings were made of logs. The house was heated with a box stove. Wood for fuel was harvested during the winter months. The logs were sawed into appropriate lengths for the heater and the kitchen range with a buzz saw. It was split by hand and carried into the house and placed into a woodbox in the kitchen.

Lighting was by kerosene lamps and lanterns. Washing sooty globes was a Saturday chore. By the 1930s the Aladdin lamp fueled with kerosene and the gas lamp brought with them a brighter light. Eventually they were replaced by electric lights when the electric lines reached outlying rural areas in the 1940s.

Cooking was done on a wood range. Some had hot water tanks on the side. The range served as heat for the kitchen in the winter and for heating sad irons for ironing. We did all of our baking from scratch. Our meals were built around staples such as potatoes and meat which were plain, but hearty. When I was in high school in the early 30s and rooming in town I used a kerosene burner-plate to cook on.

Our water supply came from a well dug by hand to a depth of seventy feet or more. Depths depended on elevation and water level. The wells were reinforced with board casings to prevent caving. I shudder even today as I recall Dad entering the wells standing in a barrel on a rope fastened to a winch for the purpose of replacing a point, a pipe or rotting boards. Once a board was inadvertently dropped a narrowly missing his head. Dad did the repair work for three families because noone else would do it. A later well was put in by a professional well-driller.

The water supply in the house was in a pail on a stand beside a wash basin. A common dipper was used for drinking. By the well was a home-made large cement water tank for the cattle.

Many used washtubs for bathing, but we, being of Finnish descent, had the luxury of a sauna (steam bath). Our first one was built of logs and the second from lumber with a moisture resistant wallboard in the heat chamber.

The floors in our house were of hardwood which were kept clean with a weekly scrubbing on hands and knees. When linoleum became available the scrub brush was retired for a mop.

Farm work was done with horse-drawn machinery and hand implements. Hay and oat seed were sown by scattering by hand or a device carried on the body. Corn and potatoes were planted with hand planters. We were all expected to share in the various farm tasks. We pumped water, hauled wood, pulled weeds, picked potato bugs, rode the horse when Dad cultivated, picked potatoes, shocked hay, husked corn and brought the cattle to and from the pasture. We girls were excused from milking with these words, "If you marry a farmer you'll have all the milking you'll want." Incidentally, neither of us did. With the advent of tractors farm work became a little easier for those who could afford one.

This is the first part of Helmi Neuvonen Voight's memoir. I thought it was quite apropos for this new millenium. The Historical Society has a number of artifacts from the Voight family to work into an exhibit. There are clothes, this story, pictures and a whole series of lovely valentines and other greeting and postcards. We have a kitchen which would be a terrific backdrop for the artifacts. We are looking for a volunteer who will help organize, accession and plan a new exhibit for this summer.