Johnson Memories by Hilda Johnson Harkness

ARKEMA, JOHNSON, HARKNESS, LUNDINE, NIKKEL, DOUGHMAN, RUPLE

Posted By: Sheri Hubbell (email)
Date: 1/29/2003 at 21:53:02

By Hilda (Born April 13, 1906)
My memory goes back to the time when I was 12 or 14 years old. We used to have potato planting days, and everyone would have to be at home and we would plant potatoes for 3 or 4 days. Mother would start several days ahead, sitting in the cave, cutting potatoes so that there would be at least one and, better 2 eyes on each piece. These pieces were to be dropped an equal distance apart in a row made by a plow, with the "eye" up. They were then covered, also with the plow. In the late summer, or fall it would take about that long again to harvest the crop. We harvested the potatoes with "kid power", putting the potatoes in a wagon box to be hauled into the cave. Often we harvested as many as 300 bushel.
Also, there were apples to be harvested. Dad had 2 orchards, one near the house, and one up on the other place which we called the Conner Place. The apples were picked from ladders, handled carefully so as not to bruise them, again sorted for spots or rot. The good ones were taken to the cave for winter storing, and the others were to be used for cider making. We owned our own cider press, and after grinding the culls thru the mill they would be pressed, the juice strained into barrels, and the remains given to the hogs. We also made our own vinegar from the apple juice. A jelly-like substance would form in the older vinegar and some of that would be removed and put into the new, and the vinegar making process was hurried along. Sometimes the neighbors would come and buy our product.
We also had a field of cane from which our molasses was made. We had sharp sticks with which to take off the leaves, as only the the true cane stock was ground and pressed to make the juice. The next step was the cooking down to an extra thick syrup. We had a molasses pan, and built a wood fire under this, and constantly stirred the juice until it was of the desired consistency. Often this process would go on into the late evening, as you didn't dare stop. We also sold to neighbors on occasion.
I also remember our big cement tank on what we called the "ditch" which was a small creek running through our pasture. By this was a pump so that we could fill this tank for the cattle and horses to drink. This was also done by "kid power". Dad would have several head of horses and cattle, and in dry times this tank would have to be filled as much as twice a day. Usually two of us girls would go at a time and pump till we were tired, and while we rested, we would catch little ground squirrels. "Grinnies", we called them, and our method was simple. We would take a piece of string, preferable binder twine that had been discarded, and ring the hole, making a snare. One would man the snare, and the other would pour water in the hole. When the grinnie came out for air, we would pull the string, and with lots of luck, he would be caught.
We also had to follow the corn planter every round, one on each side, with a hoe, and cover any grains of corn that the planter didn't cover. The planter gauge had to be turned over by hand at the end of each row, so we also did that so Dad didn't have to get off at the end and do that. The wire also had to be reset each time. There were small buttons on the planter wire that tripped the planter and made the corn drop in hills. The wire was lined up so that the corn would be planted the same distance apart both ways, and could be plowed both from east and west, and north and south. All this before the day of chemicals.
In 1925 Ival and I married, and left home, but that didn't make too much difference. However, a year later Ted and Edith Arkema married and that was when Dad felt crippled. Ted had been doing the farming till then and now other arrangements had to be made. Dad went to Tracy and bought an acreage east of the school building which is now the home of Nick & Anna Pauline Nikkel. Grandma Doughman was very poorly at this time so my mother and Aunt Rose Ruple felt they had to go to her home and take care of her. Dad and brother Bill started building the new house, with what help others could give, and had it about ready to move into when Grandma passed away on December 10, 1927. Helen and Hazel had previously made wedding plans and the date happened to be the same day as Grandma's passing. Confusion reigned in the Johnson household; house building, kids getting married right and left, and a death in the family. Arlene, the youngest of the tribe was all that was left at home. The folks got busy at setting fruit trees, berry patches, and building a chicken house to house some 100 Rhode Island Reds. Things settled down and went pretty well until May of 1934, when Mother discovered something going wrong with her physical well being. She went to Oskaloosa to Dr. Abbott and found she had breast cancer. From there she went to Savannah, Missouri to a hospital for treatment, and they removed her breast, but found it had advanced too far for a cure. Dad brought her back to the hospital in Oskaloosa, for a period of time, and then it was decided that if we all cooperated, we could take care of her at home. The girls all took turns and stayed with Dad until February 11, 1935 when she passed to her heavenly home. Dad tried to get along alone for while, but didn't do so well and later married Nell Lundine whome he had know since their migration from Sweden in 1880. This arrangement seemed to work out for a while until Nell's health failed. Then, we had decisions to make again. Again, this called for a cooperative effort. Dad passed away December 27th, 1948.
Nell's mental ability was totally gone, so she was taken to the Burton Nursing Home in Indianola. In February, she passed away and was laid to rest beside her first husband in Holdridge, Nebraska. For us, this was the sad ending of Mom and Dad, parents of us 12 children.
I am 74 years old now, and 8 of us 12 are still living. Fred, Ted, Anna, Ruby, Hilday, Hazel, Helen and Arlene, raning in years from 87 to 65.