South Dakota Mary

We had chores to do after we got home.

There were days...years...that Ted and I didn't miss one day of school. We had perfect attendance in stormy weather, rainy weather, whatever. We always walked home together; and when we got home, we did some studying. He helped me with my arithmetic.
We also had chores to do when we got home. We had to gather eggs, feed the chickens, and help cook meals. We hunted eggs up in the hay. That's where the hens laid their eggs. We were always so happy when we found the nest.

Photo from Mary's photo album

The old farm place

My Dad was a good farmer, and we had a good farm. The people who had the farm before us had a homestead. They planted all those trees. They even planted flowers.

You wouldn't know the place now. Nothing is the same. All the buildings have been torn down and the house burned down. Nowadays, even the old barns are going.

The top photo is of Ted, Evert, and Dad on the farm. I'm with Dad in the middle photo and in the close-up.

Photos from Mary's photo album

Mom canned all kinds of fruit

It never bothered Mom when we had people stay to eat. She had all that canned food—apples, pears, and peaches. On our home place where the farm was, we had apple trees, plum trees, rasberry bushes and strawberry plants. I think we even had gooseberries.

Photo from Mary's photo album

My sister Agnes

My sister Agnes was six or seven years younger than I was. I was through school by the time she started. I finished school, but she didn't.

She liked to work in the fields like Mom. Sometimes she traded with Evert, so she could go out in the fields. Evert was happy to trade, too, because sometimes he could sit in the kitchen and read.

Photo from Mary's photo album

Mom was a homebody

My mom, Gertrude Brakke, was a homebody. She liked to read and crochet. She never drove a car; she was content to stay at home and didn't visit or go places much.

She liked to work in the field, picking corn or shocking grain. She drove a team of horses and helped with the milking, milking the cows by hand.

She was always the first one up in the morning. She would start the fires and get breakfast going. She always saw to it that each of us got going. She did our sewing. She always sewed our dresses and aprons.

She liked to can and had a big garden. That was nice. When company came from Iowa, she never worried. She just told us to go downstairs and get beef, peaches and potatos. We always had sauce, peaches, and berries, too. We went down in the trap door to get whatever we needed for dinner.

This is a picture of Mom when she was older.

Photo from Mary's photo album

The old Brakke farmhouse

Here are some photos of me taken at the old Brakke farmhouse and barn. They were taken in 1984. I think they were the last ones taken.

Photos from Mary's photo album