Electronics of the 1920s

By: Madison “Beep, Beep, Beep!” I open my eyes and realize that the day has begun. I start to get up and I turn on my iPod and listen to my favorite More »

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The Importance of Cows

By Casera When people first moved to Joplin to mine, they brought with them animals. Many of these animals were cows. The cows were used for milk and meat. The farmers were More »

Myths and Tales of the Spooklight

                                    Myths and Tales of the Spooklight On November 23, 2012, Charles Gilstrap of Joplin, shared his thoughts and other information about the Spooklight. The Spooklight is a myth about an Indian More »

Larry-Curley-Moe-Jesse-James

Missouri Folktales

    A folktale is a legend that is traditional to many cultures. These tales often emerge from years of history and may contain interesting bits of the culture’s heritage. Missouri has More »

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Quilting: An Act of Love

“When you lay under a quilt, you lay under love” Quilting to me is a difficult thing to understand. My grandmother (Glenna) on the other hand is an expert. She loves to More »

A a child, Pa liked to play cowboys and indians.

Growing Up On The Farm

Think about how much technology we use during the day. It’s working even before we wake up. Air conditioning, television, smart phones, computers, and running water; all these are things that the More »

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Farming: A Lifestyle

Farming is not an easy profession. It takes much time, effort, and money. Work can often be taxing and strenuous with the farmer spending hours a day on the farm. Results will More »

Canning in SW MO

Canning in Southwest Missouri

Estel Stout grew up in southwest Missouri and still resides here. She was raised as a farm girl in a time when it was common for families to have a backyard garden More »

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Time of the Talk

The year 1952 was a very important year for Donna Brown. This was the year that she began working at a telephone company in Joplin– one of the many favorite jobs that More »

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Gardening: More than just a Pastime

At the time of my grandfather Dennis Gilbert’s childhood, World War II was just beginning, and sacrifices had to be made by civilians like him in order to support America’s troops. On More »

Electronics of the 1920s

By: Madison

“Beep, Beep, Beep!” I open my eyes and realize that the day has begun. I start to get up and I turn on my iPod and listen to my favorite music to start the day. The sound is blaring in my ears while I am fixing my hair with my hot straightener. I continue to listen to my favorite song as I run downstScreen Shot 2013-05-10 at 4.07.46 PMairs for breakfast. I stick a bagel in the toaster and can feel the warmth on my face as I lean over it, waiting for the bagel to jump out. I grab everything I need for school and run out the door. I get to the car and turn my iPod back on and listen to it all the way to school. That’s how my morning is. Ever think how it was back in the 1920s? Well, they did not have music that they could listen to every morning and they couldn’t be awakened by that irritating sound everyone wants to ignore.

The electronics of the 1920s were not at all like the ones we have today. They had appliances like vacuum cleaners, washing machines, refrigerators, and limited radio access. Today there is

a larger variety and different quality of electronics than there was earlier. For example, our refrigerators are of a much higher quality, and we can keep things colder and fresher for a longer period of time. We can hold more products in our refrigerators, too. Our washing machines are more high tech. We have buttons that will start the machine for us, making them easier to use. Back then, they didn’t have a self-spinning machine. They had to scrub their own clothes and try to get all the dirt out of them to make them fresh-smelling.

The way electronics affect the way we entertain today has also changed greatly. While talking to Johnnie H. Goodrich, 84, of Joplin, he described what the electronics were like in his early years of life. Explaining what the kids did for entertaining in the 1920s, he said with a laugh, “Back then we didn’t have TV or anything like that. We only had a radio that was a big old console like that, with one of them big long batteries in it. When the battery went dead, it went dead, and you couldn’t recharge them so you ain’t going to get to listen to the radio for very long.”

Growing up having little entertainment, and not many electronics the average day of someone who lived in the 1920s wouldn’t be as easy as today. “They don’t know what tough times was,” declared Johnnie. He pointed out that they didn’t use a lot of the same electronics that we use today.  When I asked him how they stored their food items, he said that sometimes they would make things called “hot houses.” Johnnie explained, “We used to build a pit about two or three feet deep and fill it with straw and stuff like that, and then you would build a hot house but you would take a whole bunch of old wooden windows with the rectangular panes in them and make a frame work… covering the pit. That way it would have glass and the sun would shine in there in the winter time, and we called that a hot house…” What Johnnie explained sounds a lot like today’s greenhouse.

Johnnie taught me how the electronics and storing food has changed from then to now. He taught me about how he lived. He taught me about the differences from when he was a kid, to when he was older. He taught me a lot. And now he has taught you.

Works Cited:

Goodrich, Johnnie. Personal interview. 24 Nov. 2012.

“1920′s Appliances including Prices.” Electrical Goods and Appliances in the 1920s Prices Examples from The People History Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. <http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/20selectrical.html>.

Technology Through the Years

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Have you ever wondered how people acquired information before computers and televisions? Things haven’t always been as they are today. Dependence upon technology continues to increase daily, but one can’t count on technology for all the answers; sometimes the most accurate information one can find is within something that has always been right there, the people around you.

Catherine Ann Iles tell us about how life used to be before having advanced technology. “When I was very young, the only technology we had was a switchboard phone,” Iles states. They had to call the operator that lived in a nearby town and tell them the name of the person they wanted to reach “Although that may sound complex, we didn’t mind, because it made life so much easier, and we were glad we had one,”   Iles also states, “Although growing up on a farm and being the oldest sibling was a lot of work, we made the best of the things we had. ”For fun, Iles and her siblings would play Monopoly, Checkers, dress their dog up for parades and ride horses. “We didn’t have cell phones and computers to waste our days on. You would find us playing outside and making up our own games.” Iles tells us that on Saturday nights, one would find her and her family eating fried shrimp at a local restaurant.  “It was simple, but it was something we looked forward to each week.”

When Iles was six, her family purchased their first TV, which was black and white. They later got a green film to place over the screen to make the TV appear color, but really it was just black and green. Today it is rare to come across someone without a TV; back then, you were very fortunate to have one in your house.

Life has obviously changed a lot since Iles was young. We have so many resources compared to previous generations. Although the things we have today are plentiful, Iles proclaims life was much more simple and peaceful when she was younger. She said they didn’t have to worry about the things we do today. She also said we take things for granted that they didn’t have thirty years ago.

Through the words of Catherine Ann Iles, we can understand more thoroughly how things used to be and how much we have to be thankful for today.

Iles, Catherine. Phone interview. November 18. 2012

The Importance of Cows

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By Casera

When people first moved to Joplin to mine, they brought with them animals. Many of these animals were cows. The cows were used for milk and meat. The farmers were in charge of keeping track of the animals and getting meat and dairy products to the miners. The farmers  would have to find a water source, a barn, and a field for their cows.

The average day for a Joplin farmer would begin bright and early when he would milk the cow. He had to sit on a stool and place a pail under the cow to catch the milk. Then he would grab and pull the cow’s udder. The milk would squirt out, and once he had emptied out the cow’s milk sac, he would move on to the next cow. The milk would then be taken back to his house and used for making cheese, making butter, cooking, and for drinking.

Next, the farmer had to take the cows down to the water. Sometimes they would drink out of a trough and sometimes from a spring or another body of water. “My job was to lead all the cows down to the spring after school,” said Delores Johnson, a longtime area resident who grew up on a Joplin farm.  She explained her daily chores to me. “After I did that, my parents would take them to the field and let them graze. The cows would stay there for the whole day. At night my parents would take the cows back to their barn.” This process was repeated daily.

Cows were an important part of a Joplin resident’s life. They were vital for milk and meat. Even though Joplin started as a mining town, the city may not have been as successful without cows and farmers. They provided the necessary food to the miners and their families helping Joplin to become the boom town it was and the city it is.

Myths and Tales of the Spooklight

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                                    Myths and Tales of the Spooklight
On November 23, 2012, Charles Gilstrap of Joplin, shared his thoughts and other information about the Spooklight.
The Spooklight is a myth about an Indian who was carrying a torch searching for his lost love. Nobody knows what it really is, but scientists have studied it and can’t seem to figure it out. Charles was not sure of the exact location, but he said it was close to the Oklahoma border, west of the village of Hornet. There is a bar named Spookies that is near the Spooklight. This bar was actually named after it.

Charles himself has not seen the Spooklight, but he recalls his father telling him that he did around the 1930’s while he was on his horse and buggie. His father told him that the Spooklight is normally the size of a basketball, but can get bigger than the size of a bushel basket. His father had also explained how when you first see the Spooklight, it begins in a field and moves toward the road coming from left or right. You can also see the light anytime of the year. Neither the weather nor anything else has an affect on it. It has a mind of its own.

The Spook Light becomes very popular around Halloween. People from many generations have gone to see it, and over the years it’s almost as if it has become a tradition. Charles shares how disappointed he is because he never got to see the light but heard of many who did. However, he enjoyed spending time with other Spooklight seekers and enjoyed the conversations that came with it.

Mr. Gilstrap was kind enough to leave all of us with his father’s experiences with the Spooklight. “My father was riding in the area of the light on his horse and buggie during the early spring after dusk. He noticed it and was aware of it, so he stopped and watched it approach. Quickly after that he got scared and tried to head home. He looked over and then he saw it. It was hovering over the seat next to him. The light had stayed like that for nearly a mile. Then all of a sudden, it was gone quicker than it appeared.” Later in time when cars were invented, his father decided he was going to drive down to it and see if he would be able to see it again. “My dad mentioned that throughout many times of driving down there, the light would either sit on the hood of the car or inside the car itself.”

Not everybody can get lucky enough to actually see the Spooklight or even get close to it like he did. But that doesn’t mean you can’t give it a try and experience some of these things yourself. Most likely It will continue on for years, just as it has years before.

Gilstrap, Charles. Personal interview. 23 November 2012.

Farming: Giving Back

Farm Life: A ContributionScreen Shot 2013-03-27 at 7.52.41 AM

Living on a farm is a different way of life. It’s a life of making your own food, learning responsibilities, and building a family. Agriculture and  farms play a huge role in Missouri, past and present. However, comparing today’s farming to farming in the past is like comparing apples to oranges. The differences vary but the same lessons are learned, and the results impact the world immensely.

 Growing up on a farm is a giant learning experience, no matter what decade you are from. “I’ve always felt that living on a farm was a good way to provide for your family and teach your children responsibility,” said Shirley Reil. Shirley explained that living on a farm takes a lot of work. Being a girl was no excuse in her family. Even as a child Shirley helped on the farm. Whether it was feeding the animals, collecting the eggs, or tending to a newborn calf, it’s a life of commitment and dedication. When the everyday chores did not get finished, it affected the family’s income.

As a farmer, not only are you providing food for your family, but also the millions across America. When you eat corn on the cob and steak, the last thing that crosses your mind is a small farm in Southwest Missouri. Fifty-nine percent of food productions in the United states come from family farms.

Farming is a very risky business to work in, as the weather, maintenance cost of machinery, and market prices are unpredictable. Each year farmers face many obstacles along the way. The chances of a dry season can affect the crops’ yield. The machinery can break down, easily costing the family business thousands of dollars in repairs. Livestock catching a disease can easily wipe out an entire herd.

Screen Shot 2013-03-27 at 7.52.11 AMHarvested crops are either sold or stored in bins. Market cattle are sent to the local livestock market. For both of these types of products, farmers have to watch the market price very carefully in order to know when the best time is to sell. Shirley stated “ The market sets its own price whether you agree with it or not. You have no say in the price.” When Shirley was young, the price of a bushel of corn was almost two dollars. Today it’s anywhere around seven dollars a bushel.

When discussing how things have changed in the years since Shirley lived and worked on a farm, she responded that they were “completely different.” She said that “the machinery is so much bigger and better. Everything is high tech, but it is still a good life. The standard of living has advanced even if you are not in farming.” In spite of all the hard work and the uncertain farm markets, Shirley said that farm life was still very beneficial for her and to her community.

Shirley Reil. Personal. December 05, 2013

Missouri Folktales

Larry-Curley-Moe-Jesse-James

 

 

A folktale is a legend that is traditional to many cultures. These tales often emerge from years of history and may contain interesting bits of the culture’s heritage. Missouri has its share of folktales, including a few about one of the state’s most notorious outlaws, Jesse James. Some say James was cruel; others say he had a heart. The reader can decide.

One day Jesse James and his gang were riding through Missouri. As they were riding, they  saw a farmhouse and stopped to ask for something to eat. A widow lived there with her three children. She didn’t have much in the house, but shared what she had. While they were eating, James noticed something was bothering the generous widow. He asked her about it, and she broke down and told him the story. Her mortgage was due on her house that very day. Since her husband died, she didn’t have money to pay the mortgage. Her landlord was selfish, and she was sure he would put her and her children out on the street. “How much money do you need?” “Fifteen hundred dollars,” the widow said sobbingly.

Screen Shot 2013-03-26 at 9.56.42 AMJames then took his money bag, counted out fifteen hundred dollars and presented it to her. “I can’t take this,” the widow replied. James insisted she pay off her mortgage. “Just make sure you get a receipt,” he warned her. He got a description of the man before leaving with his gang. Later that night, Jesse James and his gang waited in the woods near the widow’s house to see the landlord “collect” the money from the widow. Then they rode out to the road and stole their money back from the landlord.

 Another common folktale is about a witch who lived in Missouri. “I remember when I was young, my friends and I would go into the woods, and look for the witch’s cabin,” states Missourian, Vance Randall.  He says that when he and some of his friends were young, this and other such tales used to scare them.”

There are many other folktales out there. One just needs to keep listening.

Vance Randall – Personal – November 24

 

Quilting: An Act of Love

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“When you lay under a quilt, you lay under love”

Quilting to me is a difficult thing to understand. My grandmother (Glenna) on the other hand is an expert. She loves to quilt and will never stop. “I find I have the most free time in the winter. I do a lot more quilting in the winter months than any other time of the year. It’s a labor of love. I hope my family can treasure them when I’m gone.”

My grandmother got into quilting when her aunt gave her a mini sewing machine. She cherished this machine until she got a bigger one. Grandma says she feels like when she is quilting she is closer to her aunt.

My grandma’s first quilting project was a baby blanket she made when pregnant with her first child. She felt like she had mastered a new craft. Now she is working on a family Victorian quilt.  When she gets done with it, my grandma wants future generations to look at it and say, “Grandma was a pretty cool person.” She has gotten many first place ribbons on her quilts.

Quilting became popular in the 19th century. Back then, and even to this day, the quality of a quilt was measured in how many stitches were in one inch of the quilt. My grandmother told me that “Indians believed that if you don’t make at least one noticeable mistake, it was bad luck. This is because you were then competing with God.” Grandma makes a noticeable mistake in every quilt she makes.  Screen Shot 2013-02-20 at 11.46.11 AM

She said she really would love to try a freestyle quilt. This is where  quilters make their own designs and pictures with thread. When grandma finishes the Victorian quilt she is working on now,  she is going to tack it. Tacking is where the needle and thread are pulled through the back of the fabric, the thread is clipped, leaving an inch on each end. These ends are then tied in a knot, which pulls the front to the back.

Grandma has embellished most of the quilts she has made. Embellishing is when decorative elements are added to the surface of a quilt to add a three-dimensional or whimsical effect. Grandma told me that none of these basics are hard to learn, though there are styles that are more difficult to master. She said, “My favorite would have to be the embellished style.”

While grandma said she loves to quilt, she said it does take time to complete one. With eight grandchildren to enjoy, she says sometimes it’s hard to find time to quilt. When she does, however, she does outstanding work and creates a beautiful piece of history that may be enjoyed for generations to come.

Interviewee: Glenna R.

Growing Up On The Farm

A a child, Pa liked to play cowboys and indians.

Think about how much technology we use during the day. It’s working even before we wake up. Air conditioning, television, smart phones, computers, and running water; all these are things that the past generations lived without. These technological advances make life easier, but you don’t need them to be happy in life. We see this through the story of Paul Magnin, my grandpa’s, childhood.

Growing up near St. James, a small Missouri town, Paul (or Pa, as I may refer to him) lived on a farm outside of town with his family. They had no TV, no air conditioning, no telephone, and no indoor plumbing. They lived with what we think of today as the bare minimum, but they were happy, nonetheless. It was these aspects that influenced Pa’s childhood, and he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

On a normal school day, Pa and his siblings would wake up early in the morning, do morning farm chores, and walk one mile to their one room schoolhouse. There was one teacher for grades 1st through 8th. The school had only an outhouse. Pa recalled how they would have to hold up one finger if they had to “tinkle” and two fingers if they had to poop. Pa smiled as he recalled how he and his friends would always hold up two fingers, because the teacher wouldn’t always let them go if they held up one.  He spent one year in town school, but didn’t like it. It was from the one room schoolhouse that he had the fondest memories, because it was so unique.

The town school Pa went to for a year.

The town school Pa went to for a year.

Punishments at school were different than they are today. In schools today, teachers aren’t allowed to lay a hand on kids. When Pa was in elementary school, it was expected for children to be spanked on the hand with a ruler if they misbehaved. Pa said it was effective because the sharp pain would get kids to behave immediately. This was important to teachers like Pa’s because they were the only teacher in the school. They needed to spend more time on teaching and less time on punishing. With the development of bigger schools and smaller class sizes, teachers began to use other methods of punishment because they had more one on one time with the students.

In the mornings when they didn’t have school, Pa and his siblings would make PB and J sandwiches and high tail it for the creek. Not only was it cooler by the creek, but if they stayed in the house they would have to do chores. Kids those days were less likely to be cooped up inside since there was no air conditioning and no technology to keep them there. Instead of sitting around by themselves watching TV or playing video games, Pa and his siblings would play in the woods next to the farm and down by the creek, doing things like searching for cow patties and flinging them at each other.They would play war, cowboys and Indians, go looking for tadpoles and frogs, play on their stick horses, and chase headless chickens.

Pa and his siblings would chase headless chickens such as the one in this picture.

Pa and his siblings would chase headless chickens such as this one.

Every Saturday, Pa and his family would drive into town. While the grown ups ran errands, the kids would go to the movie theatre to see a show. Pa and his siblings could get in for a quarter each, and they could each get a Coke for a dime and popcorn for fifteen cents. Once they were in, they could spend all afternoon there. There was always a double feature, cartoons, and Movietone News (The news would be similar to the beginning of “Up,” when Carl is in the movie theaters.)

The atmosphere was different from today, especially in small towns like St. James. Everyone knew everyone, like Mayberry in the “Andy Griffith Show.” People would sit on their porches and talk to everyone who passed by. “Your whole world was right there in the town you lived in; that was your world.” Pa explained. “It was so different than the world today. It wasn’t as worldly, but it was clean.”

“Doing drugs” was stealing one of your dad’s cigarettes and smoking it behind the barn. One time, Pa recalls, his dad caught him trying a cigarette when he was five. His dad said, “So, you wanna smoke.” He then made Pa smoke a pipe until he was sick. Pa didn’t smoke again for 20 years.

Pa tried smoking as a child, only to be caught by his father.

Pa tried smoking as a child, only to be caught by his father.


Pa had a childhood much different than those of children today. He had no television, air conditioning, heating, phones, or running water. He lived without the technology common to today. Yet he had experiences that he could not have gotten anywhere else. Pa’s life was not what we today would call ideal, but he said he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Sources-

Magnin, Paul. Personal interview. 24 Nov. 2012
St. Jame’s Public School. 2011. Photograph. St. James. Waymarking. 2011. Web. 2 Dec. 2012. <http://www.waymarking.com/gallery/image.aspx?f=1&guid=2bc529b4-a94b-404f-aaa0-3eeba8e78c64>.
Headless Chicken. 1945. Photograph. JayNoel.com. Jay Noel, 2006. Web. 2 Dec. 2012. <http://www.jaynoel.com/2006_02_01_archive.html>.

Farming: A Lifestyle

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Farming is not an easy profession. It takes much time, effort, and money. Work can often be taxing and strenuous with the farmer spending hours a day on the farm. Results will not come automatically, but the hard work pays off in the long run. Even if farming does not produce much money, it is something you can pour your heart into. This was the case for my grandparents Lee and Jane Kutz.

In November of 1968, Lee and Jane bought a property near Wentworth, Missouri. The original owners were Lee’s grandparents, but they were growing older and could no longer keep up with the all of the work that a farm required. So Lee and Jane began living their lives as farmers.

The original property that my grandparents purchased included about eighty acres of land. One acre is equal to approximately one thousand king-sized beds or four Olympic swimming pools. That is a lot of land! What do they do with all of that land? The majority of it is used for the cattle who stay in one pasture until they eat most of this grass in that  place. Then, they are moved to a new pasture. A few of the fields are reserved for growing hay. My grandparents let the hay grow for most of the year, so that when it is fully grown, they can cut it down and roll it into hay bales. They use the hay bales to feed the cows in the middle of winter when all of the grass dies.

Other animals that they used to raise were pigs and chickens. The pigs were kept in a pigpen, and the few chickens they had were kept in a small chicken house.

Raising all of these animals requires a lot of food, and buying that food costs a lot of money. It cost so much money that they could not stay in business solely on the profit from the farm. Because of this, Lee started an accounting business in Joplin and Jane began working as a high school science teacher at Sarcoxie High School.

As you can imagine, their lives were very busy, juggling three different jobs between the two of them. It couldn’t get much busier than that, right? Wrong. Together they raised 5 children in addition to farming, running an accounting business, and teaching at a high school.  How they managed all those years is amazing. My grandma told me, “It wasn’t easy. Sometimes keeping up with everything seemed impossible. We had to continually remind ourselves to focus on the good things in life, and that if we worked hard, no matter how difficult life got, it would all be worth it in the end.”

Today, my grandparents are still hard at work on their farm. They’ve expanded their land to almost two hundred and fifty acres. Although Jane retired from teaching about three years ago, Lee is still running his accounting business from Monday to Thursday. Every Friday they go fishing together and enjoy the life they’ve made for themselves.

Farming has become more than just a job for my grandparents. It is an essential part of their lives, just as it has with many other farmers. To be devoted to a job that requires so much work, one must truly love what they are doing.

 

Canning in Southwest Missouri

Canning in SW MO

Estel Stout grew up in southwest Missouri and still resides here. She was raised as a farm girl in a time when it was common for families to have a backyard garden and grow all the produce they ate. While today it’s nothing unusual to make a run to Walmart several times a week, when Estel was growing up, they were lucky to make it to the market once a month.

In Estel’s home, it was a necessity to know how to preserve foods. Canning was the most frequently used method to preserve fruits and vegetables for the harsh winters they endured. As she put it, it was to “make our favorite fruits and veggies available to have during the dead season, winter.”  Canning was also more cost effective, the food was healthier for them, and the food was good for a long time. Estel said, “Oh, our foods, they never went bad. Normally, we’d eat them before the year was up, but I’ve heard that canned foods are good for a very, very long time.”

“The whole purpose of canning our foods was to remove anything that would cause the foods to spoil,” Estel said. Canning is a preserving of harvested food so it can be prepared for later consumption. Making and preserving jam was also very popular. Mason jars were used as food containers and would be boiled in hot water to remove bacteria from the glass. The last step was placing the foods in the jars, wiping the rims, and tightly sealing the jars. Estel and all of her siblings knew how to can. Once the foods were canned, Estel would take them to a little building apart from the house, similar to a small shed, but which led to an underground room. This was the perfect storage compartment because it was dry and cool.

Up until around the second World War, canning was a common practice in every household. During this time period, the refrigerator was invented, and it replaced much of the canning. When Estel was asked when modern technology replaced the old method of canning, she answered, “Oh, I think it was about 1945 when we got our first refrigerator. Momma was a little reluctant to do anything differently. She had canned her entire life!” She added, “The community was a little nervous at first, due to the large change, but it soon became a necessity to everyday life.”

Estel was fond of their old ways of preservation, but was welcoming to new, more efficient ways. “Now, I know that my canning was a great method, but I do think that it was a good thing that the refrigerator came around. Canning worked, but a fridge did a much better job,” she said. “I will admit, canning was a great technique, and provided me with lots of memories as a kid, but technology is takin’ over the world! I think that the new methods are a very positive thing for this area.”

To this day, if someone were to walk out to a little shed in my grandmother’s front yard and open the old, weathered door and walk down the crumbling stone steps, they would find a small room full of old jars that she once used to feed a hungry family through winter months.

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