Lois Goertzen

The wonderful smells of pies out of the oven, the hustle and bustle of activity in the kitchen, all were indications of preparation being made for food for the harvest crew due to arrive that morning.

 

Neighbor men were called into action to help with harvest at our farm.  The equipment was all checked to be in working order and soon the wagons went into the field to gather the bundles of wheat and oats ready to be threshed.  The threshing machine was shared among the Spomer, Kleinsasser and Groves families, and it was our turn today.

 

For me it was an exciting time as the day began.  The coffee and cinnamon rolls were ready for the crew to sustain their bodies for the morning work.

 

The threshing machine and tractor were ready and soon bundles of grain were thrown on and harvest began.  All went well in the morning, and before we knew it the dinner bell rang and it was time to clean up for the noon meal.

 

On the bench in the yard were dishpans of soapy water and towels for washing up.

 

Then the men gathered around our generous table, all talking and laughing and discussing the morning work.

 

Out of the kitchen came platters of fried chicken just butchered that morning, bowls of steaming mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans flavored with bacon and onion, plates of summer dill pickles, and baskets of fresh bread just made that morning.  All was quiet as the men all ate.  Then plates were removed and out came the pies for dessert.

 

After everyone had their fill and had a short rest, the harvest started up again.  By later that afternoon they were ready to shut down for the day and returned to the yard for coffee, sandwiches and chocolate cake.

 

Soon the neighbor men returned to their homes to do their chores and have a rest.  Tomorrow was another day and the work of another day of harvest.

 

There was always plenty of food to feed our large family.  We had two large gardens, one with potatoes, sweet corn, kohlrabi, turnips, and cucumbers.  The garden near the house had peas, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, and onions.  The small orchard contained cherries, plums, apples, and mulberries.  Throughout the year we were kept busy picking, cleaning, and preparing fruit for canning, all for winter use.

 

There was always the supply of eggs, fresh chickens, ducks, and geese.  In addition, in the winter months we butchered a couple of pigs and a steer for our meat supply.  These butchering days were always busy.  From the gunshots killing the animals to the last packages of meat being wrapped and jars ready to can, we worked from early morning to night.

 

After the pigs were cut in half, the intestines were removed and the halves were hung, skinned, and ready to lay on the table for cutting.  The excess fat was removed, cut in small pieces and put in the rendering kettle to cook down into lard.  Roasts and chops were cut up, the upper parts of legs were ready to be cured for hams, and bacon was sliced.  Any scraps were ground, seasoned and stuffed into casings for sausage.  Lard was drained off, and cracklings were pressed, all ready for winter.  For supper that night my mother always fried pork loin.

 

The beef was skinned, hung, and cut up for roasts and steaks; the scraps were ground up for hamburger.  The heart, liver and tongue were portioned out and with the rest of the meat readied for the locker to quick freeze the meat in town where the meat was frozen for winter..

 

Throughout the year we butchered chickens as we needed them.  My father chopped off the heads; we removed the feathers after scalding (dipping in boiling water).  The birds’ intestines were removed and then the meat was cut up for baking or frying.

 

Our grocery lists were rather small because of all the vegetables, fruit, and meat.  We bought flour, yeast, sugar, and salt regularly.

 

Baking bread was an every-other-day activity.  My mother was an expert in doing this along with cakes and cookies.

Cooking

 

Creating food in the kitchen became some of the greatest accomplishments of my life.  Spending time with my mother in her kitchens brought great enjoyment for me.

Thinking of what I cooked throughout the calendar year brings many memories.

In January, I think of nee-yosh-roka (New Year’s cookies).  A recipe for these deep fried fritters follows.

 

New Year’s Cookies

1 pkg. yeast, dissolved in ¼ c. warm water

½ c. cream, heat to lukewarm

¼ c. butter, melted

1/3 c. sugar

2 eggs, room temperature, beaten

½ t. Vanilla

2 t. Salt

dash nutmeg

1 c. raisins tossed with flour

4½ c. flour

Mix dough in order given to a batter.  Let rise in warm place.

Heat oil in electric skillet to 400°.

Spoon off batter into oil browning one side turning over to brown other side.  Drain on paper towels.

Can be frosted with granulated sugar, or dipped in a thin glaze.  Serve fresh.

 

Clara Bauer cake was made and served throughout the year.  No one knows the origin of the title, but it was a well-loved cake by all who had a piece with a cup of coffee.

 

Clara Bauer Cake

Cream together:  2 c. sugar

    ½ c. shortening

Add and stir in:  2 eggs, beaten

  1 t. vanilla

  ½ c. milk

Add and stir:  2 c. flour

          5 T. cocoa

          1½ t. Baking powder

          1 t. Soda

          1 t. Salt

Add to batter:  1 c. boiling water

 

Pour into greased 9×13 pan and bake in preheated 350° oven for 30-35 minutes.  Can be eaten plain or frosted with butter frosting.

 

A favorite in the winter was applesauce or baked apples.

 

Quick Baked Apples

 

Core and cut into quarters unpeeled apples.  Place in baking dish, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.  Bake for 2 or 3 minutes in microwave.  Serve warm.

 

Applesauce

 

Core an assortment of unpeeled apples.  Cook until tender, and when cool, blend and sugar to taste.  Can be cooked in small amount of apple or orange juice.  You’ll never notice the blended peelings.

 

A good chicken casserole always tasted good in the winter.

 

Scalloped Chicken

 

1 stewing chicken, cooked, deboned and cut up

3-4 c. broth

1½ c. diced celery

½ c. chopped onion

2-3 T. butter

1 can mushroom soup

3 c. crushed Ritz crackers

4 eggs, beaten

1 t. salt

Mix in order given.  Pour in 9×13 pan.  Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.

 

And of course homemade bread is a must eaten with a casserole.

 

Oatmeal Bread

 

Stir together:  1 pkg. yeast

1/4 c. warm water

1 t. sugar

¼ c. melted butter

1 t. salt

Mix together:  1 c. oatmeal

1 c. boiling water

Add 1 c. cold water to oatmeal mixture.  Cool to lukewarm.

Add yeast and 3 c. flour and mix well.  Gradually add rest of flour.  Knead well.  Put in greased bowl.  Let rise until double.  Punch down and let rise again.  Form into two greased loaf pans.  Let rise again.  Bake at 350° for 35-45 minutes.  Can be formed into buns and baked 15-20 minutes.

 

Zwieback

Mix together:  2 T. yeast

½ c. warm water

Mix together:  ¾ c. butter, melted

2 c. warm milk

2 T. sugar

2 t. Salt

6½-7 c. flour

Mix in order given.  Add 6 cups flour gradually.  Knead on counter using extra ½ c. flour as needed.

Let rise and pinch off to form zwieback.  Let rise and bake at 400° for 15 minutes. 

Fresh rolls were often eaten with cups of hot cocoa on Saturday night.

 

We did need some greens to round our our meals.

 

Mandarin Salad

 

½ head lettuce, torn into small pieces

1 c. chopped celery

2 green onions

1 can mandarin oranges

Cook to coat almonds:  ¼ c. sliced almonds

  1 T. sugar

Make dressing:  ½ t. salt

  2 T. sugar

  ¼ c. salad oil

  ⅛ t. pepper or tabasco

Shake all ingredients in jar, and refrigerate until ready to use.

 

This is just a sampling of some of the cooking I’ve done over the years.  I have enough recipes to fill up the book.

The sounds of gunfire indicated that the steer and hogs were being shot and it was butchering day.  The animals were hung to bleed out and soon the tables were set up and ready to accept the halves of meat to be cut up.

 

Removing the innards and separating the heart, liver, and tongues began the process.  These parts were put in pans of cool water.  Expert hands begin cutting away roasts, steaks and soup bones.  These were all separated into packages and ready to be frozen.  Scraps of meat were ground into hamburger and sausage.  The fat from the pigs was cut into cubes to render down for lard and cracklings.

 

We did not have a freezer so packages of meat were taken to town and placed in lockers for freezing and storage.  Some of the meat made into sausage was stuffed and, with hams and bacon, hung in the smoke house which was ready.

 

This was a long day of intense labor and when finished there was also the cleanup of tables and equipment used.

 

The highlight of the day was having fresh pork side meat for supper.

It was spring of 1942 and a moving day for the Groves family.  My father’s eyesight was failing and it was necessary to change from night watchman in the city to a new place of employment.  My uncle Jake offered his farm at the north edge of the city to be our new home.

 

This was a small farm of 80 acres tillable ground, an alfalfa field and a barn, a hog building, a small chicken house, three brooder houses and a long six-room building for laying hens.  The farm basically was for producing eggs for my uncle’s hatchery in town.

 

The barn contained room for six cows to stand ready to be milked.  The pig barn contained a half dozen sows and, at times of the year, many little pigs.

 

The small chicken house was for about 250 chickens for eggs for the family and butchering as needed.  The brooder houses were for the early spring baby chicks.  The large chicken house contained about 1,000 laying hens.

 

At times of the year the tillable ground was planted with wheat and oats, and occasionally corn.  But the main work was with the animals and the chickens.

 

Back to town and the move.  The wagon pulled up to the house and the loading began.  First the beds then the rest of the furniture, the kitchen stove, the heating stove, the contents of the kitchen.

 

The house on the farm contained a large kitchen, dining room, parlor, bedroom, a washroom where the milk was separated, all on the main floor, and upstairs a large bedroom and a smaller one, and a storage room.

 

After many trips with the contents of our house in town, the farm house soon filled up with all that was moved.  The three double beds were taken up to the large bedroom upstairs and one bed in the smaller room.

 

The downstairs bedroom contained a double bed and a single bed.  The rest of the furniture was put in the other rooms.  There was a small washroom at the main entrance to the house off the long, outside porch.

 

My main memory of the farm was exploring the many areas of the yard.  It was quite the adventure taking it all in.

 

I can’t forget our black german shepherd dog.  Of course, he was moved too, and put in a room in one of the outbuildings until he got used to being in a new place.

 

When the move was done and we were getting settled in our new home, my mother was in the kitchen fixing a meal for the family.

 

After a much needed dinner and doing some of the chores, my brother Lowell and I set out to gather eggs.  Since there were so many chickens the eggs needed to be gathered twice a day. After getting them all picked up, we packed them in the large egg cartons in the middle room of the building.  This was quite a process but we soon caught on and got the job done.  Any eggs that were cracked were put aside and taken to the house for immediate use.

 

Back in the house, the beds were all put together, and looked very inviting to all our tired bodies after a long day’s work.  It didn’t take long for us to get cleaned up and ready for a night’s rest. The next morning we woke to the sound of chickens cackling and knew the day of work was upon us and “life on the farm” had begun.

 

  

 

My father was William Paul Adelbert Groves.  He was born in Olney, Illinois.  His siblings were Claude, Russell, Grace, and Lulu.  His father worked on the railroad as did my father and his brothers.  Their railroad work brought them to Freeman, South Dakota and that’s where they settled.

Their home was just a few blocks from where I grew up.  My grandparents died before I was born so I never knew them.

My father met my mother at a young  people’s gathering and that’s how they got together.

Early in the years of World War I my father was drafted and spent his army years in France.  He was wounded by shrapnel in one leg, and spent some time in a hospital before he was honorably discharged.  Soon after that time, he and my mother were married in 1918.

They moved a chicken house into town, remodeled it and made their home there.  

My father was employed by the city of Freeman as a night watchman on the police force.  He held that job until 1942 when his eyesight was failing due to cataracts.  At that time our family moved to my uncle’s poultry farm.

He had taken some classes on animal husbandry at a local college, so was prepared for taking care of animals.

By that time we were a family of eight children so there were plenty of hands to do the farm work.

My father was, for the most part, a gentle family man.  He loved to gather the family in the parlor for a time of singing accompanied by my sister at the piano and him on the violin.  Those were special times for me.

He had surgery to remove his clouded lenses in his eyes.  At that time that’s all they did and after healing he wore glasses with heavy lenses to allow him to see.  He often misjudged doorways and bumped his head due to poor eyesight.  I spent a lot of time following him around trying to warn him about doorways and places where he would bump his head.

In October of 1950, while he was shelling corn with one of my brothers, he suffered a heart attack and after a short time died.  I was 13 at the time and what a sad time that was for me.

My mother was Mary Stucky.  She grew up in rural Marion, South Dakota on a farm.  Her father had been married before and his new wife was my mother’s mother.  She had two half-sisters from the first marriage and was the oldest of six siblings.  Her father died when my Mom was 13 and she was left to help take care of the children.  She had to quit school and go to work for various families in order to make a little money to support the remaining family.  Her siblings were Henry, Joe, Pete, Emma, and Frances.

My mother was always a very hard worker.  After her teen years of taking care of her siblings she was well prepared for taking care of her children from her marriage.

She was a gentle and loving mother and a role model for me.  Sewing, gardening, cleaning, and cooking were tasks she carried out without complaint and did so well.

After her children were all gone from home she chose to move to Kansas and be close to some family who had settled there.  So she sold what she didn’t move and settled in a duplex of one of my brothers’ homes.  I had moved to Kansas in 1957 when she was already here.  My oldest three children loved having her near and she died when my fourth child was a little over a year old.