@EstrellaFrom a few days ago: I just read your post. Great! Please feel free to oblige us with more of your stories. Brings back the time when “like a headless chicken” was an everyday occurrence,
Well, as I mentioned at the time, we had to deal with “headless chickens” on only very rare occasions, because, as a general rule, we would sacrifice a chicken to the pot ONLY when we were expecting very special company. What we did when we were on the farm was keep out stock tank stocked with fish. My mother had grown up near a creek, so her family went fishing nearly every day when she was growing up. When they moved away from the creek, they captured a bunch of the fish and kept them in the stock tank. So one of the first things which she did after she married my Dad was to make sure that his stock tank got stocked with fish. As a general rule, what we had for most of our meals – whenever someone thought we needed some “meat” – would be to go out to the stock tank, dip the net in and, the fish which came up in the net were usually what we would have for supper. We milked our own cows – so we had plenty of milk, butter and cheese. Most of our chickens were laying hens – although we did do a pretty good business with the fryers in the summer time. But, we didn’t eat the fryers ourselves – we mostly sold them to people in town. Even an old hen which had stopped laying eggs could still be used to sit on the eggs and hatch out more chicks – so we really thought long and hard before we consigned any of them to the stew pot. I believe someone mentioned having salmon for supper. We didn’t keep any salmon in the stock tank. We usually dined on blue gill, carp and catfish. We kept a big garden, so there were always plenty of vegetables. Our main crop was wheat, so we usually kept back a bushel or two for ourselves and ground the wheat into flour. In those days, a bushel of wheat would keep a family of four in all the bread they cared to have throughout most of the winter. We raised beef cattle as well. But, like the chickens, the beef cattle were for selling to folks in town. We didn’t have electricity until several years after we moved to town, so there was no point in trying to “preserve” any large animals. We used an ice box – like everyone else in town. We had a fellow who delivered the ice to us on a regular basis. When he first started delivering ice to us, he came in a horse-drawn buggy. Later, he invested in a truck and was making his ice deliveries, using the truck. Then the REA (Rural Electrification Association) started to become available in our area and people began to wire their houses for electricity and, eventually, even bought refrigerators. By that time, the ice man was ready to retire, so the REA came in just in the nick of time for most of us. I am still not sure where and when people came up with the idea that they had to have meat every day – and sometimes, two or three times per day. In those days, having meat for a meal was strictly reserved for special occasions! Turkeys became popular for Thanksgiving and Christmas because it was a big bird, which could feed the extra mouths which always turned up during the holidays.
Sherlock Watson over 12 years ago
That was a very narrow window of opportunity, Jeff.
Buzza Wuzza over 12 years ago
I’ve seen some Foney Films in my day.
Number Three over 12 years ago
LOL LOL! This made me laugh. Jeff is already the comedian in this strip.
xxx
jmcx4 over 12 years ago
@Number ThreeYea, I liked it, too. Ah, for the days of screen doors and windows and no AC.
jmcx4 over 12 years ago
@EstrellaFrom a few days ago: I just read your post. Great! Please feel free to oblige us with more of your stories. Brings back the time when “like a headless chicken” was an everyday occurrence,
EstrelitaH over 12 years ago
Well, as I mentioned at the time, we had to deal with “headless chickens” on only very rare occasions, because, as a general rule, we would sacrifice a chicken to the pot ONLY when we were expecting very special company. What we did when we were on the farm was keep out stock tank stocked with fish. My mother had grown up near a creek, so her family went fishing nearly every day when she was growing up. When they moved away from the creek, they captured a bunch of the fish and kept them in the stock tank. So one of the first things which she did after she married my Dad was to make sure that his stock tank got stocked with fish. As a general rule, what we had for most of our meals – whenever someone thought we needed some “meat” – would be to go out to the stock tank, dip the net in and, the fish which came up in the net were usually what we would have for supper. We milked our own cows – so we had plenty of milk, butter and cheese. Most of our chickens were laying hens – although we did do a pretty good business with the fryers in the summer time. But, we didn’t eat the fryers ourselves – we mostly sold them to people in town. Even an old hen which had stopped laying eggs could still be used to sit on the eggs and hatch out more chicks – so we really thought long and hard before we consigned any of them to the stew pot. I believe someone mentioned having salmon for supper. We didn’t keep any salmon in the stock tank. We usually dined on blue gill, carp and catfish. We kept a big garden, so there were always plenty of vegetables. Our main crop was wheat, so we usually kept back a bushel or two for ourselves and ground the wheat into flour. In those days, a bushel of wheat would keep a family of four in all the bread they cared to have throughout most of the winter. We raised beef cattle as well. But, like the chickens, the beef cattle were for selling to folks in town. We didn’t have electricity until several years after we moved to town, so there was no point in trying to “preserve” any large animals. We used an ice box – like everyone else in town. We had a fellow who delivered the ice to us on a regular basis. When he first started delivering ice to us, he came in a horse-drawn buggy. Later, he invested in a truck and was making his ice deliveries, using the truck. Then the REA (Rural Electrification Association) started to become available in our area and people began to wire their houses for electricity and, eventually, even bought refrigerators. By that time, the ice man was ready to retire, so the REA came in just in the nick of time for most of us. I am still not sure where and when people came up with the idea that they had to have meat every day – and sometimes, two or three times per day. In those days, having meat for a meal was strictly reserved for special occasions! Turkeys became popular for Thanksgiving and Christmas because it was a big bird, which could feed the extra mouths which always turned up during the holidays.
derry1 over 12 years ago
Looks like the screen failed the test…