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Remembering... |
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| Life
on the Farm was hard back in the early 1900s.
These rural residents weren’t exactly pioneers; but
there was much of the pioneer spirit and way of life still
remaining in rural Dutchess County at that time. The fields were
still plowed by teams of horses or mules and hay was piled in
two-story mounds. Large stones and rocks were extracted from the
earth by hand and later used for rock walls to divide your land
from your neighbors’. |
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Running
water in your home came in the form of a hand pump which |
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from the kitchen floor bringing cold water into the sink. Baths were taken in the kitchen too in the huge caste iron
tub which doubled as the base for the food prep table. The kitchen was the
center of the home, where the heartbeat of the family could be
felt. The kitchen, complete with two rocking chairs and large
dining table
with chairs for family members and more, was the room from which
warmth was spread to the rest of the house.
This warmth emanated as much from the huge cook stove and
warming ovens as from the
lively conversation and review of the day’s events. The
kitchen, where busy hands prepared
the daily bread and
meals that warmed the bodies and the souls of the family and
those travelers that passed looking for work, wanting to compare
crop production and to exchange remarks about the weather, the
last hunt or the fish that got away.
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