In my boyhood we milked five or six cows which provided us
with milk, cream, butter, and cottage (also called Dutch) cheese. My
brothers and I were taught to milk by the time we were ten years
old. According to my earliest recollections, the milk, when brought
in from the cow barn, would be poured into flat basins and left
standing for twelve hours for the cream to rise. This was then
skimmed off and the milk, such as was not used in the home, was
given to the hogs. I remember that there was a country creamery on
the Zimmer place, about a mile east of where we lived and not too far from the big city of Des Moines. One day,
when I was about five years old, I was riding with my brother
Millard in a one-horse buggy when he was taking a five-gallon can of
cream to the creamery, to be creamed and all. Since the roads in Sac County were five rods,
or 82’/2 feet wide, there was plenty of space on either side of the
main traveled path to permit one to drive on the grass when the
main road was muddy or rough or full of potholes. This my brother was doing when an
accident occurred, or maybe it was on purpose. I don’t remember. A row of telephone poles had just been erected
on the grassy side used by my brother. Evidently he was unaware of
them. The horse was running at a fast trot when he hit the first pole. Yes, that was a fast horse indeed.
The left front wheel went on the other side of the pole; the horse
broke loose from the shafts and we were thrown out and we rolled and rolled all across the ground. I do not
remember what happened to the can of cream. Incidentally, the
recollection of this incident, which occurred in the summer of 1902,
gives an approximate date when the new invention called the telephone was coming to that
part of our community. Hardly did we know that we’d be talking to aunt Ruth in just a few more years on a party line while drinking iced tea and eating cornbread.
My great-grandparents owned a farm in Indiana - my dad was the help during the summer and said it was extremely hard work. If something broke down YOU fixed it b/c you didn’t have money for a repairman and you needed that broken piece of machinery pronto, it couldn’t lay idle for too long.
Dad went on to earn a degree in physics and engineering at Purdue University and graduate degrees in physics later - says it all started by having to figure out how to repair small and large motors and farm equipment.
Living History Farms is a great stop for anyone driving through the Des Moines area.
It showcases different time periods in the states history.
I would love to see them add a version from the 60’s era of agriculture as well
From “Field of Dreams.’
John Kinsella: Is this heaven?
Ray Kinsella: It’s Iowa.
John Kinsella: Iowa? I could have sworn this was heaven.
John Kinsella: Oh yeah. It’s the place where dreams come true.
Ray Kinsella: [Ray looks around, seeing his wife playing with their daughter on the porch] Maybe this is heaven.
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