Page 40 - Farmer John Eyking: The Holland Years

ISSUE : Issue 50

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1989/1/1

So this load of manure would have been hauled by somebody else already with horse and wagon, and piled up, and trimmed down, so it wouldn't deteriorate. It was a pile like this kitchen. So, the land was leveled. Then we would have boards--I would say planks they call them here--12-foot planks. And we laid them in a row in the fields, like so. And we would have two wheelbarrows. One fellow would be loading them, and I would be go? ing along and dump one here. Exactly meas? ured. Twenty-five wheelbarrow loads-- wheelbarrow full of old rotten manure. I don't know why I go in this detail. I en? joy talking about the stupidity of it. (A whole wheelbarrow here, and a whole wheel- barrel there, and they'd be in certain spots.) And exactly--roughly exactly meas? ured. You don't have a big one here and a little one there. You wouldn't have one here and a big space here. No, Father had it pretty well stepped out. Make a little mark. So there would be 500 piles, say, laying over this field. Now, here you make another hole--oh, it's so stupid when I think of it!--so I make this hole here, say--I'd be putting my fork in, I lay it here. (This is half a foot down into the virgin soil.) Yes. Right on. Young fellow with me. Say I'm 16 or 17--I've got a kid with me, some drop? out, or my brother or something. And he The Insurance Bureau of Canada is the national association of the private general insurance industry. ifs important to get the facts and nnake informed insurance decisions, Our toll-free information service gives you easy access to answers Answers to just about any question you may hiave about general insurance. We'll also send you information booklets so you can keep thiose answers close at hand, So give us a call. And get the facts, lr?uioice Bureau of Conoda 'T'SAS USi Bureau d'assuroAcedu Canada ASIBC! # has his fork, and he takes this cow manure and spreads it all nicely. But he's got to be careful--he's got to make do with that pile for 5 or 6 holes. So, the next hole's from the next pile. So, you go up and down the field. And boy, he'd be going--that's why I'm so short, I guess! And we'd be whistling-- you'd be proud of yourself. My father used to kid us about it. He'd say, "Look, the city people come by, they think we're slaves of the soil." And we'd be laughing about it, because we were making a living. And that's the way it was. And the family was very tight, and there was a lot of loyalty, parental--and it was not just my parents. I think in our commu? nity where we were brought up, people thought alike. I was from a mixed communi? ty; as a matter of fact, our community was mostly Protestants. And we had a large Jewish community. We had a large synagogue in our town. Before the war we had almost 200 families. Of course, after the war, not even 20. But anyway, at that respect I think we were brought up kind of broad- minded and respectful. Parental authority was such. For instance, having a family of 3, 4 boys, after work was done and there was 2 or 3 weeks of a lee time there, there were always farmers a little slower, or had no boys. Father would say, "Go and help them." Of course, we would bring mon? ey home, but I was always passing it to the parents. I even know from my friends who worked for somebody all the time, whenever they got 5 0 or 40 bucks a week, they passed it to their parents. And then they would get pocket money back. But of course, the parents looked after their food and clothing. And they were usually-- when they were boys in a family where there was a farm, the father usually made sure that the boys would have some start on their own. I wouldn't want to call it a dowry--a dowry is for girls. But a boy Jim Sampson Motors Ltd SA YS "TRY BEFORE YOU BUY" Cape Breton's Authorized '' Volkswagen Audi Dealer '' 539-1 610 '' '' Established Leader 132 TOWNSEND ST. ' '" ''"?' Economy SYDNEY, N. s. The "I Care" People '800-5?5-7?9|ln)teificConado) 4294730|H

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