Monticello, Missouri
January 26, 2007
From the diary of Vaden Thomas Wood penned
between September 29 and October 6, 1976 at the age
of 89
Note from grandson John Wood: As you
read the text
below, please note the lack of processed foods,
mentions of lard,
free
range chicken, heirloom
pork,
beef,
raw milk, fresh
butter, brown
eggs,
fruits and vegetables. My grandfather missed 100
years of age by 2 days and was in remarkable shape
up into his 90’s. He still had a large garden,
milked his own cow and gathered his own eggs into
his late 80’s!!
I, V. T. Wood, was born on a farm eight miles north
of Hunnewell,
Missouri on June 11, 1887. My parents were Richard
Dallas Wood and Josephine Patterson Wood. There
were three brothers older than I. Namely, John
Patterson Wood born August 26, 1881, William
Heighter Wood born on October 15, 1883 and Richard
Alvin Wood, born on March 23, 1886. When I was just
past one year old our home burned and destroyed all
of our furniture. Later, my father bought a small
farm of 48 acres where we boys grew up. That farm
has been added to as follows: 40 acres in the
spring of 1902, which cost $1000 and 60 acres about
the same time that cost $1800 This farm is now
owned by my brother, Delbert Lee Wood, who was born
here on December 8, 1891.
This was frontier country then and life was simple,
hard, tremendously limited and frustrating.
Every body was poor. Money was scarce and there
were very few conveniences! No telephones, electric
lights nor rural mail delivery. The automobile,
tractor, radio, television and airplane had not been
more than dreamed about. Every home so far as it
was possible was an independent social unit and it
had to make its living by careful cultivation of its
land. Every family supplied its food as follows:
• A small percentage of corn was white corn which
was later ground into corn meal. The corn meal
created corn bread, an important staple.
• Balance of the corn was feed for pigs and chickens
• An acre or more was planted to sugar cane which
produced sorghum molasses
• Many farms raised there own navy beans, potatoes
and turnips
• Pumpkins and water melons were raised on every
farm
• Every home had its orchard producing apples,
pears, plums, peaches, grapes and cherries
• Many of these fruits were shared gratuitously with
neighbors as there was no market for them because of
abundance
The farmers all had their farm animals as follows:
• Horses and mules to pull farm machinery
• Cows for milk, butter and their offspring for meat
• Hogs were the mortgage lifters
• Not only were hogs mortgage lifters, but furnished
meat and lard for the home
• Some farmers kept a few sheep
• Every farmer had a flock of chickens
• The eggs sold from 3 to 8 cents per dozen and paid
for sugar, coffee and kerosene for the coal oil
lamps
• A flock of hens cared for many a family’s wants
during the summer
• Some families had guinea fowls, ducks and geese
• All families had a faithful dog
The farm machinery was about as follows:
• 2 plows
• One plow was a 14 inch to be drawn by 2 horses or
mules
• One plow was a 16 inch to be drawn by 3 horses
• A drag and a wooden harrow
• Horse drawn corn planter that dropped two rows of
seed simultaneously
• Horse drawn corn cultivator
• Most farmers had a horse drawn mowing machine and
revolving hay rake
• All farms had pitch forks, scoop shovels, axes,
cross cut saws, hoes, post hole digger, wire
stretcher, and hammers
• There was a horse drawn wagon with 4 wooden wheels
• Horse drawn sled was used through the Winter to
haul feed on the snow and ice
• All farms had a sleigh for transportation
• All farms had a butter churn, sausage grinder and
coffer grinder
I am now going to explain a day’s work in
January,
March, July and September 1904. These
months will
indicate the seasonal employment of the farmers.
January or February was the time to fill the ice
houses with ice for the summer. The ice house was
about 14 feet square and lined with an inside wall
made of heavy oak lumber. The tools for cutting the
ice were some cross cut saws and a number of ice
tongs for handling the ice. This was a community
job, just like threshing of the grains, raising a
farm building and sawing the winter’s wood. The ice
was sawed in squares of such size as could be
handled by some strong young men. An ice crew
usually consisted of about seven men. Two men
placed the ice in the ice house, 2 men hauled the
ice to the ice house and 3 men did the sawing at the
pond. There was always a hot delicious diner at
noon for the men.
Now the last of March was oat sowing time when the
ground was dry enough. Usually the ground was
prepared the day before the sowing. Early on the
sowing day, a wagon was used to get the bags of seed
to the field. If the oats were sowed by hand, which
my father often did since we had no machines to sow
with, another team was hitched to the harrow which
was pulled to cover the seed.
Soon it was July and the oats and wheat had to be
cut, bound, shocked and thrashed. Threshing day was
a real community day. The farmers went together and
helped one another. The threshing machine crew
consisted of three men . . . an engine man, a water
hauler and his team and a separator man. There
usually were about 5 wagon men hauling the bundles
of grain from the field to the threshing machine.
The threshing machine required two bundle pitchers,
two men with grain wagons hauling the grain away and
two men stacking the straw. The entire crew of
workers averaged 13 men.
The highlight of threshing days was the noon meal.
This was a cooperative effort among the farm wives.
The meal was informal smorgasbord. There were
always two kinds of meats consisting of chicken
and
ham.
Followed with a bountiful bowl of gravy,
mashed potatoes, plenty of home made apple sauce, a
molasses stand full of sorghum, plate of hot
biscuits, dish of raw
hand churned butter,
dish of
fresh peas, bowl of onion and radishes and a dish of
slaw. There was always plenty of cold raw milk,
hot coffee and lemonade. For dessert, there was
plenty of cake and pie from master chefs. Usually
the pies were apple, peach, cherry or custard. And
still after this feast, the men would go on threshing!
September rolled in with an immediate need to have
fire wood out of the timber and sawed. When enough
was hauled for the winter’s use, the steam engine
crew came with the threshing engine. Within a
couple of hours, the noisy circular saw had the
winter’s wood sawed in stove wood lengths.
The winter’s school started the first week of
September. However, we had to miss school until the
wood was sawed, the sugar cane was stripped and
hauled to the sorghum mill and the corn was cut and
placed in large shocks. The corn was shocked so we
could have the fodder for winter farm stock feed.
It was poor feed; however, it would carry them
through the cold nights of winter. We usually fed
the pumpkins to the cows until a hard freeze ruined
them. When the wood was sawed and the corn was in
the shock we all started to school.
Best regards,
John, Lee Ann and Stephanie for the farm
families of
U.S. Wellness Meats
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About U.S. Wellness Meats
U.S. Wellness Meats was founded on September 1st,
2000. Pasture management and meat science
research originated in 1997. The company office is
domiciled in Monticello, Missouri in Lewis County
which joins the Mississippi River 140 miles North of
St.
Louis. The company has branched from beef products
into lamb, certified
humane pork, free range
chicken, salted and unsalted
grass-fed butter, grass-fed raw
cheese, raw
honey,
wild salmon, gourmet rabbit ,
artisan soaps,
wholesale
packs, free
range bison, nutraceuticals
,organic shrimp, grass-fed
goat and on sale
products.
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