INCLUDED IN THIS SITE:
     The Village, Employment, Local Institutions, Community Life, Farm and Household Life

Erieville, NY during the 1930's

This page includes part 5 of an ethnography written by Larry J. Schmidt in 1977. 

Farm and Household Life

Farming at that time was a means of livlihood rather than a means of income.  Although most farmers shipped milk, they were more self sufficient and less specialized than modern dairymen are.  Milk sold for as little as 49 cents per hundred.  A typical farm shipped only a couple of cans each day.  Since <a> large surplus of milk and crops was not produced, spendable cash was a scarce commodity.  The farm household was relatively inexpensive to maintain, however, as labor substituted for the costly and breakdown prone appliances and utilities of today.

The family farm included chickens, pigs, horses, sometimes sheep, and a large garden.  Relative to today, food was plentiful, especially good cuts of meat.  The farm involved the full participation of every capable family member.  Even nonfarm houses in and near the village usually kept a garden and a few animals for meat, milk, butter and eggs.  Only basic grocery supplies were bought at the store.  Milk checks came in once a month, and when they arrived, a substantial portion of the check was left at the feed store and the general store.  Little money was saved.

A typical farm family got up around 5:00 to milk cows.  By 8, breakfast was over and the children had arrived at school.  The farmer drew his milk into the creamery usually after breakfast.  Some farmers would let their sons draw the milk in.  Sometimes there was a mild competition to see who could get to the creamery first, and the younger men would match up their teams and race into the village.  This went on until their fathers found out what they were doing.

Many younger farmers milked at 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. so that they would be finished early enough in the evening to have some free time before retiring.  Dinner was at noon.  Supper was sometimes before chores and sometimes after, to give the housewife some free time in the evening.  The farmer took an hour off for breakfast, dinner and supper.  His work day ended about seven.  The farmer worked a full six day work week plus 4 or 5 hours milking and cleaning on Sunday.  Except for Sunday, all days of the week were essentially the same, though there was more work done on Saturday because the children were home from school.

Nevertheless, the farmer's work was varied, as he did many different things during the day.  Changing tasks was actually seen as sort of relaxing by most farmers.  Many tasks needed doing, and it wasn't always important which were done first.  The farmer's hours were long and his work was never done.  Work was usually very hard and most farmers were in excellent physical condition.  Farm life was preferred to factory life among local people because the factories worked a 6 day week and the wages were low.  People who left for factory work looked forward to buying a farm.

The community was occupationally quite homogeneous.  All members felt the same seasonal pressures.  Farmers were very busy during the planting and harvesting seasons.  By normal business standards, they actually operated with a labor shortage during these times.  They were also heavily dependent on the weather, as the fields had to dry enough to run equipment over them.  "Wait" and then "hurry" was the normal summer routine.  If the farmer planted too early, a frost could ruin his crop. If he planted too late, the yield could be reduced.  Harvesting was even more heavily affected by weather.  Hay, once cut, could spoil in the fields if rained upon too many times.  Wind, hail or heavy rain could seriously damage otherwise good crops at the last moment.  More frequently, unseasonally wet or dry weather would reduce both yield and quality.  Given all these things, there was still a friendly competition between farmers as to who could get their planting done first and who could produce the best crop.

Modern mechanization was just beginning to make inroads on traditional methods.  This was several years before the arrival of the combine harvestor and grain was still threshed by hand.  Crews were formed through farmers "trading works".  Farmers would get together and harvest one another's fields until the job was done.  It was thought to be the highlight of the yearly cycle, and one of the strongest expressions of community solidarity.  Even though the work was very hard and dirty, people looked forward to the threshing season.  Single men would sometimes try to get on a threshing crew in order to enjoy the fun and the fine noon meals each farmer's wife would cook.  This was probably the major event of the  year for the farm wife and often other wives would help prepare the meal.  As many as two dozen men might be served.  Crews were also formed for silo filling.  Corn was cut and loaded by hand.  It was very hard work.

The threshing machine was powered by a tractor.  Earlier they had been run by a steam engine.  Acceptance of tractors was slow due to a number of factors.  The early models were cumbersome and difficult to steer.  The ride was rough and the hilly terrain made them dangerous in some fields.  The Fordsons especially had a reputation of being liable to overturn.  One farmer had to dig himself out from underneath an overturned Fordson.  Some farmers felt that the heavy machines compacted the soil and made it less productive.  Moreover, the machines were expensive and farmers had little feel for their durability or cost of maintenance.  Some farmers who owned tractors would use horses for any job where use of the tractor did not offer a clear advantage.  Horses were not completely safe either, especially as transportation.  Occasionally runaway horses would kill someone in the areas when they were thrown off a wagon.

Most herds were still miled by hand.  Although the milking machine had been invented in the twenties, it was not until the forties that the machine had been perfected to the point of overcoming farmers' skepticism.  One person recalled an old farmer pumping his hands as he watched the machine work.

It was about this time that the farmers began to join the Dairy Herd Improvement Association. This organization sought to improve the quantity and butterfat content of milk produced mostly by good feeding and breeding practices and by eliminating poor producers.  There was pressure on farmers to produce greater surplus and they were interested in improving their herd.  Some farmers, however, became very attached to their animals, even the poor producers, and were slow to eliminate them from the herd.  Butchering was seldom done by the farmers themselves.

The farm household was quite self sufficient.  In the winter, being snowed in for several days caused no great concern.  The farm wife had a heavy work day, including preparing three meals, mending, and cleaning.  Baking and washing were all-day activities once a week.  Washing at the time was done with a hand machine that worked with a plunger.  The scrubboard was earlier.  The farm diet was not as spicy as the modern one, but most food was grown and processed right at the household.  Items that are readily available today were considered <to be> luxuries then and vice versa.  Most wives kept a large garden and were very busy in the late summer with canning their produce.  Often they put up six or seven hundred cans a year.  They also canned beef during fall butchering.  Meat could also be kept frozen in the basement or woodshed through the winter months.  Salt pork was packed in stone crocks.  Ham was often partially cooked, then packed in crocks and covered with melted fresh lard.  Lard was fried out of the inedible parts of the hog.  Chickens were usually butchered as needed.  Fruits (apples, cabbage) were wrapped up in a newspaper and kept covered with hay or straw in root cellars.  Butter was home churned.  Bees were often kept and honey was used for sweetening as was maple syrup.

Youth were also an important source of farm labor.  They were well aware of their importance in the farm enterprise and were usually quite busy with work.  In the winter, time was divided between school and farm work.  In the summer, work hours were especially long.  Since there were no economic pressures against having children, farm families tended to be large.

Many modern appliances were not available _____________ was poor in the summer.  Each family usually had a small ice house, ice being needed for both refrigeration of milk overnight and for household refrigeration.  The local ice house was too small to sustain community needs all through the summer, and some local men would bring in ice from Norwich.

Indoor plumbing was also not available.  The kerosene lamp was the main source of light in most country houses.  Some housing, especially in the village, had electric lights.  Electricity was available only along rural electrification lines.  Many households had a standard box type radio during this decade and radio programs were very popular evening entertainment.

This was before the arrival of the kerosene stove, and most houses were heated with wood.  The pot bellied stove was the most popular source of heat.  Some wealthier households had a wood or coal furnace in the basement.  The kitchen was usually heated by the cookstove.  Above or near the cookstove was a hot water tank, which was tapped for cleaning or bathing.  A teakettle was usually kept on the stove, both to provide the humidity that was needed with wood heat and to provide ready tea for visitors.  The farm house was normally entered through the kitchen and neighbors always felt welcome to drop in on the farm wife at any time of day.

Sawing wood for the following year was a major activity in the spring or late winter.  Green wood needed to be seasoned at least six months in order to burn nicely.  Everything connected with wood burning involved heavy work.  Wood was sawed mostly by hand.  In the winter, the woodshed was often inconveniently obstructed by snow.  Splitting was also done by hand.  Children were given the job of bringing in the wood.

The farm family tended to socialize as a family, although children followed their parents as they visited relatives rather than parents following children while they participated in school organizations and activities.   The family was not in the public eye most of the time, and clothing was mended until it was worn out.  A sharp distinction between Sunday clothes, school clothes, and everyday clothes was made. 

To sum up, farm families, for the most part, were tied to the household 365 days a year.  If a family was able to take off for a week between haying and harvesting, they were considered to be lucky.  Usually they would visit relatives in some other part of the state, or take an outdoor vacation in the north country.  Most people would go into Syracuse only once or twice a year, although a few families were more mobile than this.  Rural life then was pretty much like it has classically been depicted to be.

Again, I would like to thank all those who helped me in preparing this account.  If anyone wants to expand upon it, use any part of it, or redo it for any purpose whatsoever, go right ahead and I wish you luck.  Perhaps, if the account is reasonably close to being accurate, someone should prepare an "official" copy by blotting out items that are wrong in fact or else grossly wrong in interpretation.  Important dates could also be added if they are known.  Hopefully, this effort will at least stimulate discussion, and it anyone does anything more, I would enjoy having a copy.  Send it c/o Syracuse University Anthropology. Larry J. Schmidt, 11/20/77

History needs a "keeper" to allow it to be passed on to future generations.  Erieville is lucky to have such a person in its Postmaster, Donna.  This document came from her file of information related to the history of the village.