Page 38 - From Breton Cove and Boston: Conversations with Josie Matheson Bredbury Part 2

ISSUE : Issue 57

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1991/6/1

top on it, you know. And they'd put so much oatmeal in that. And if we were going to go to the shore, to do the haying over there, they'd take it. And there was a well over there. Oh, it was as cold. So she'd take a dipper--my mother--I say "she." My mother'd take the dipper, and she'd fill the pail up with this spring water. (Would you put a cup of oatmeal in, or more?) Oh, they'd have more than that-- probably 2 or 3. Rolled oats. (The oatmeal water, did it taste good?) Yeah. You try it sometime. It's not bad at all. (It's just soaked oatmeal.) Yeah. (And the water would, I guess, turn kind of gray.) And when you spilled the water in it, of course it churned up. And it was milky look, kind of. And you'd drink that. It wasn't bad at all. I drank things worse! Like that Coke that you drink--oh, that's awful. (Oatmeal wa? ter's an interesting kind of drink, though. But it was refreshing.) Oh, yes, it was. And I don't remember of them having it in the house at all. Just out in the fields. Discover Richmond County From Johnstown to Arichat, Louisdale to Loch Lomond, an extraordinary mixture of Acadian and Irish, Micmac and Scottish traditions welcomes the visitor. The setting is the quiet beauty of Richmond County. The culture and heritage are centuries old. We invite you to take Route 4, the road that leads through Richmond County. It is the road less travelled, and it will make all the difference in your Cape Breton Vacation. MUNICIPALITY OF THE COUNTY OF RICHMOND (Because I would think you'd be sweating.) Yeah. You'd sweat. You ran around. You raked. And then, well, the oats--the time for cutting the oats. They used to bundle it in stacks. My father would cut it with the hand scythe. And my mother would come along, pick up a bunch of that. And we'd go along and we'd take a couple of pieces of it, and we'd tie a knot (in it). And (some of us would) be ahead of her, and (would) lay it out like this. So when she'd get the bundle--somebody else behind would come and knot it. We knew how to do it. And then before we'd go home, we'd stack it all up. I think there were 12 put in a stack. (Leaning against each other?) Yeah, at the top. And the wind could go through it and dry it. It was amazing what they were doing, really. (And it certainly explains why there were not that many games.) Well, that's it. You got up when your father and mother got up-- everybody was up, from the youngest to the oldest. There was work to be done in the barn, there was work to be done here and there. The cattle would have to be milked. And then Saturday--oh, Saturday was a hard day. She made bread twice a week--a loaf bread. There were no sweets made. Very, very seldom. If she knew there was compa? ny- -or (for) Sunday--there'd be cookies or something like that made. Molasses cook? ies. And she'd make the bread on Wednes? day, I believe it was. And then on Satur? day, she'd make about 4 or 5 loaves of bread. But every morning, when she'd put the fire on, she'd make a pan of biscuits ROUTE 4 The road less travelled! Country Living at Its Best! On the Shore of the Bras d'Or Lake Imille east of ST. PETERS MOTEL & COTTAGES P.O. Box 193, St. Peters, NS BOE 3B0 Single Cottages • 2-Bedroom Housekeeping Cottages • Motel JOYCE'S Motel & Cottages • 002) 535-2404 LAUBERGE ACADIENNE TRNDIIIOWI. I'HhCIMI KV VCADIW INN OPEN ALL YEAR! Acadian Cuisine in a traditional setting Newly Renovated. Luxury accommodations in a 19th Century period setting. At Arichat on Isle Madame Call: (902) 226-2200 Morrison's Stores'-*'* j''jHome Hardware General Merchants Celebrating over 100 Years of Service ST. PETER'S RICHMOND COUNTY, NOVA SCOTIA BOE 300

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