Milking cows was a hard and dirty job. The cows were frequently restless and in the summer the flies swarmed. The milking room was deep in cow manure by the time night’s milking of thirty cows was finished. Sometimes the cows even tried to kick the person milking them. Milking had to be done every morning and every night. No days off. No evenings off.
The barn was not only the center of commerce on the farm, but it was also an extension of the house. We had electricity in the barn before we had it in the house so the milk cooler was frequently used for food storage as well as milk storage. On rare occasions that cooler also held the coldest and best tasting home brew imaginable. We also had running water in the barn, which we never had in the house, so that made washing dishes and clothes easier. All these things were done in the milk cooler room. We even took our baths in the barn.
Virginia wanted nice clothes for herself and her children and she was a talented seamstress. She had a treadle sewing machine on which she made her clothes and our clothes. She even cut her own patterns to look like clothes she saw in magazines. Many of the clothes she made were from flour sacks, which came in pretty colorful patterns. Sometimes, however, she was able to buy cloth from a store. One year she made Portia a Peter Pan costume for Halloween complete with green-dyed hose for tights. Portia’s was voted the best costume at school. Virginia taught us to sew.
© 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003 Portia Isaacson Bass and Veta Leigh. All rights reserved.