Dear Daddy – The Farm Letters

Dear James,

We received your package yesterday and were glad to get everything. We are well supplied with paper and envelopes now and groceries except for butter and potatoes. I think we can begin to use ours as the vines are drying up. We need rain badly.

Mr. Rood and Eddie fixed the hay stack yesterday while I was in the garden. They put poles on each side this time to keep it in place. Eddie tried to tell the children that they had jumped on it and knocked it down, but they had kept away from it entirely knowing you would want them to leave it alone. They have hauled all the grain away so the fields are bare except for the grass. I looked at the hazelnuts –they are not quite ready to pick, in a week I guess.

If that is the yellow bath towel it is ours. I have the others here. In making beet pickles you boil the beets with the skins on until tender, pour cold water over them and slip the skins off, cut them up and pour the boiling vinegar and sugar over them. I cup vinegar, 1 cup water and 2 Tbsps. sugar and a dash of cinnamon is a good proportion.

We use your rustic seats a lot and they are very attractive. We had a picnic out in the grove last night. We had potato salad, fresh biscuits and jam, bean pickles, bananas and cookies. I have picked another mess of peas and beans enough for another jar of pickles. The children are planning on having them for school lunches.

John had carved you a real nice horse’s head that he was going to send you in a letter but one of the ears broke off and it discouraged him. He has two cut fingers now – not bad but he’ll learn to be careful. John gave Ruth his printing set as he never uses it. They broke the bit boring holes in some badges. Can you send us another one? The dog has some hair worn off on one side, and the skin is cracked and rough. Is there a salve we can put on? I hope you keep well and get plenty of work. Lots of love from us all and a big hug and kiss apiece, Martha

Dear James,

It is Monday morning. Yesterday was hot and sultry and we spent most of the afternoon reading. I got up early (6:30) and finished some cleaning I hadn’t done on Saturday and the children had their baths and we washed our hair before breakfast. Then I baked an apple pie and some cookies and we had dinner, pot roast and gravy, potatoes, corn, pickles and apple pie. It is so dry the ears of corn are small but they taste good.

We went to town on Sat. morning. There were two truck-loads of CCC boys in town. John got a hair cut and one of the officers in charge of the camp was there getting a hair cut and shave.

Just as we were turning in to get some gas at the Standard Oil station the battery went dead like it did before. There were no cars there so the two attendants got our car into their yard and looked over the starting system and found the cable had worked loose. He tightened them and told me how to fix them if it happened again. The roads are rough and the ends of the wire jiggle loose.

I’m afraid we’re too late for blueberries. I didn’t see any in the stores. Let me know the prices of fruit and I will buy here when the price is right.

There isn’t much news only we all miss you so. We got your letter Sat. but the package didn’t come. John is carving all over the place. He thinks the knife is OK and the chain keeps him from losing it. Ruth made me a little match box and nailed it up and it is really handy.

Some of the paper on the shed roof got loose and I had to climb up and fasten it down yesterday morning. It had been very windy. Mitzi and the cat are better friends but still have to have a round or two to show the other who’s who.

Well this is all. I’m sending my account sheet and it is the last one in the book. Send me a filler so I can use it for the milk. Lots of love from the family, Martha

Dear James,

We were glad to get your letter yesterday and that you could spend the day out of town. We’re having real cool weather. This morning we were glad to stay by the stove.

Yesterday we picked a nice mess of corn for dinner and string beans enough for supper and a qt. of pickles. We’ll have another mess of peas about Sunday. The brown beans are ripe and the children shelled out 2 cups full. I am baking bread today and making some chokecherry jam.

Mr. Rood and Eddie were cutting and raking the poorest oats yesterday. They came here for a drink and Mr. Rood said he thought it best to haul the bundles over to his place and thresh them there and he would sack up our grain. He also said we wouldn’t have to pay for any twine if we didn’t get the straw. He said he had a cow (a 4 yr. old) with a week old calf he would sell for $40.00. It was in Bryan Sells’ pasture. I was going to try to buy potatoes at Sells so in the evening we drove to Roods and Mrs. Rood went with us to Sells. I couldn’t get any potatoes but saw the cow. She is coal black and they said she is part Jersey. She had a pretty little calf, nicely marked but the cow was small and seemed a little wild to me. So there you are.

I bought a book of stamps from the mailman yesterday. There was a sub on for two days. I must get this letter mailed so goodbye and lots of good luck. Be sure to tell me all the news and send us a Sunday paper if you get one. Love from us all, Martha

Dear James

Sunday again and has it seemed like a long day! It is only 4:30 now and I don’t know what I’ll do till bed time. John is building in the sand and Ruth is reading. Can you send us more books as we have read everything here?

We went to town yesterday to get some soap so I could wash and I also bought more sugar, vinegar, butter and pickling spices and a piece of cloth to make a curtain to cover our clothes. It cost 50 cents and there will be enough to make a curtain for a little cupboard Ruth made out of an orange crate, too. When we got home Ruth unpacked the dishes and there was the soap! I felt pretty disgusted with myself for not having unpacked that box sooner, but had no place to put the dishes yet so I thought I’d leave them in the box.

It keeps clouding up and looks like rain but only a few sprinkles have fallen so far. I’ll tell you what I did today. Yesterday I washed clothes and thoroughly cleaned the bed room, intending to keep right on cleaning today, but I thought it wasn’t any more right for me to do unnecessary work than any one else. I finished some jelly that needed to be taken care of and got 3 pts. full. It is apple and pincherry. Then I made an apple pie and swept and dusted in the living room and kitchen, took a bath and had dinner. Here is the menu; potatoes, corn, cucumbers in cream, bread and butter and apple pie. I haven’t cooked any coffee since we came back, the cream doesn’t keep sweet overnight and I don’t like it with milk. The children brought in 4 “cukes” from the garden.

After dinner I picked some raspberries, then looked over magazines. and finally decided to write my letter. I am writing on our little walnut table. We set it in front of the east window and it looks nice and is very handy.

Jensons lost one of the mares and the other one was so sick they had the horse doctor out and they all stayed up till 4 o’clock Sat. morning watching her. The children said she was up and eating this morning so she must be better. That leaves them pretty short on horses for the rest of the season’s work. Shaws are having a family gathering today. Bryan Sells drove by with a load of folks and 2 small boys just went by here with a gun.

I hope you are rested, you looked pretty tired. Ruth is fixing a little supper party with her dishes. I wish you were here with us. The children miss you such a lot. You can be proud of them and should be, just as we are proud of you.

Well I guess this is all. Lots of love from everybody, Martha

Dear James,

We are gathered around the family table writing letters. It is now 8:30 PM. We reached home by way of Wadena, and Park Rapids. From Brainerd to Park Rapids the road is wonderful. We stopped at Little Falls for gas and oil, 3 gals gas and a qt. of oil, 77 cents. We bought groceries at Menagha. 1 doz. eggs, 5 lbs. potatoes, l qt vinegar (so I can make bean pickles), 1 loaf bread, 2 pkgs, corn flakes, total $1.11 also 3 ice cream cones. We ate lunch just outside Little Falls. We had packed lunch for you too but forgot to give it to you before we left. What bus did you take to the cities? We met two, one about 8 o’clock and one about 9. The car worked perfectly and the weather was ideal.

The first thing we did was to look at the garden. The potatoes are still blossoming and have grown a lot. Ruth dug 2 hills and found 10 potatoes a little smaller than an egg. The sweet corn is in the milk and the corn is beginning to tassel. The cabbages are forming heads and the onions are ripe. The tomato plants have many, many little tomatoes set on and the plants are 3 times as big as they were.

There must have been a heavy rainfall lately as the garden soil was washed some and both tubs and boiler were full of soft water. The cat came running from the barn as soon as she heard the car. She had moved the kittens again.

I unloaded the car and picked a basin of raspberries, enough for supper. I brushed our coats and picked all the hair off of them and hung them away. I feel pretty tired now and am only waiting my turn at the tub. John is already asleep. The children were both very good all the way up here.

I am sorry I was cross with you but you’ll simply have to be more patient. I’ve been thinking over what we talked about, and if you get more work I think we ought to rent a house and stay with you this winter. We can’t even bear to think of another winter up here alone. And then we can spend the summer months up here and rent out the land as before. If your work gets less you might see about the loan and find out if you can quit it and go to farming and I guess this farm is as good as most of them.

Eddie Rood was cutting the oats on the north half of the field just as hay, on the rest he will use the binder. The millet and sudan grass look nice. The grain isn’t ripe enough to harvest yet. The grass in the yard is green and everything is just as we left it.

Be sure to get your new shoes right away and pay Ted all up if you have enough money.

I’m sorry again for being cross. Bruce had been here twice while we were away, on the 17th and the 22nd of July. He left 2 notes.

(Continued in A.M.)

We’re all feeling great. Had a good sleep. It is cloudy today and as soon as this is in the mail box we are going after the cherries and the garden. Blueberries were 10 cents a lb. in the store. I hope you are rested now and that things will go well with you.

Lots of love. Martha