Written By John Caverhill
In the 1930s and 40s, the general farm was still prevalent. It produced a variety of crops and animals so there was corresponding variety in the farmwork. Much of this work involved preparing for the upcoming season.
By mid-autumn all of the major crops were harvested, leaving many small roundup jobs. In early October, the winter supply of potatoes was dug and spread out for a day to dry. They were then culled, bagged and stored in the house cellar. The crop averaged ten to fifteen bags yearly. Onions, carrots, beets and cabbages were stored in the root cellar under the barn gangway. Mother made the remaining green tomatoes and peppers into green chilli sauce, which as a kid, I preferred to regular chilli sauce.
The fall plowing concluded with the garden, and then the plowshares and coulters were given a coat of used engine oil, so their shiny surfaces wouldn’t rust. All implements were stored undercover when not in use.
In the early 1940s, my father, along with Campbell Caverhill and Elliott Shipley, rented pastureland to ‘summer’ the young cattle. The pasture was over in Arva (then known as St. John’s) across the road from present-day Medway High School. In early summer, the cattle were driven along the road over to St. John’s. In late October, the cattle returned home the same way. In those days, all farms were enclosed by fences, so it was easy to keep the cattle on the roadway (road traffic then was also very light).
The regular farm pasture was often very short by October so temporary electric fencing was strung along the hayfield and all of the cattle enjoyed feeding on young clover or alfalfa for the rest of the fall. When the cold weather arrived and the cattle were kept inside, the silo filled with corn silage would be ‘opened’. Opening the silo consisted of removing a top layer of silage which, exposed to the weather, was spoiled. A mild fall meant more spoilage and vice versa. Immediately after the silo was filled Dad would broadcast a few handfuls of oats over the top. This would grow and form a protective green mat reducing the spoilage to a few inches which was forked off, revealing the fragrant, spicy-smelling ensilage which cattle love.
In the house, the stoves—one in the kitchen and one in the living room—were both polished; the kitchen stove especially was gleaming with a fresh coat of stove blacking. The stove pipes also were shiny with fresh black varnish. By November, both stoves were going twenty-four hours a day; the fires were only allowed to go out when the pipes were cleaned, roughly every two months.
Also, by the first of November, the storm windows were installed, downstairs only. The second story wasn’t heated so there was no need of extra windows to preserve the heat.
One of the most enjoyable tasks each fall was making apple cider. We had a fairly large orchard with a variety of apples. The late varieties, such as Northern Spy (my personal favourite then and now), Greenings, and Wealthies supplying the bulk of the cider mix. By the end of October, they would have been frostbitten several times, maximizing both the juice output and the flavour. Mixing the different apple varieties produced a mellow, sweet but tangy full-flavoured cider. If one could ‘taste’ the flavour of a beautiful fall day I think it would taste like that cider.
We had our own cider press and, on a Saturday, when big brother Ron and I were both at home to help we would spend the day in the orchard. By mid-afternoon, we would have several gallons of ‘home brew’. We would keep a couple of gallons for drinking in a cream can in the woodshed. It was cold enough that it would keep into December if we hadn’t already finished it by then. The remaining two or three gallons of cider was emptied into our vinegar barrel in the cellar, where it fermented and blended with what was left from last year to produce a pungent cider vinegar that was used among other things as a base for next year’s crunchy, spicy pickles.
Looking out the window at the blowing snow one morning you knew winter had arrived, and it gave one a snug, cosy feeling to know you were prepared and ready for the cold months ahead.
