File: chappellella06-oh-farmlife_M.mp3
Speakers:
EC – Ella Chappell
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
EC: We had no pump in the house; we had it outside and we had to pump the water and take it in. And then we had the old range stove and there was a big tank on the side which holded four buckets of water. That was on the side of the stove, and the heat of the stove would heat the water. And then the cattle had to come out of the barn and go over to where this pump was, and there was a big tub. And I remember my sister and I, there was just a year between us, and we used to help my father to pump the water for the cows. And we'd pump a hundred strokes each, well that was just enough so it didn't make us tired, that we just enjoyed doing it. And I'd do a hundred strokes and my sister would do a hundred strokes. And then they'd let the cattle out and go and drink out of that tub, and if they didn't drink it all there'd be ice across the top. And then we'd have to get an old stick and break that ice, and then fill it up with water another day. But when we had to work in the barn, we weren't made to do anything we weren't able to so we enjoyed it all, and that's why we all grew up strong, so many people years ago. And then pickin' potatoes in the fall. They had these rows of potatoes, and they used to dig them out with a plow, and I remember my father and I – We were only very small. And my father'd have the basket, fillin it up, and we'd be goin' one at each side of him, and we'd help him fill the basket up. And it'd get kind of cold and my father'd say, "Now hurry up now we'll get to the end of the drill and go home cause it's startin' to get cold" And I never forgot that. And then my father was always – He'd carry the basket, and we'd throw the potatoes in. And this is the way we got the potatoes in for the winter.
KP: Did people ever help each other with the harvest?
EC: Oh yes years ago, they don't do this much now, but one fellow would get done ahead of the other, they'd go and help them out. And they'd do that always.