Love - The Odessa Record "By Your Relative"

Hi, here I am again.

Continued from last time: The Kiesz Children. Farm life for Gordon and Virgil was hard. The Kiesz family usually did everything by themselves. Never used extra help except during harvest when one person was usually needed to help out. Of course there were years when the crop consisted of one - two bushels per acre, when extra help was not needed. It was the early 1930's, the depression was still on. Virgil and Gordon milked cows and cared for them, cleaned the barn, collected the manure inside, outside the barn and hauled it to the fields and spread it. They slopped the pigs, hoed weeds in the fields, cared for the chickens, gathered eggs, along with other tasks. all directed toward helping their parents. All this was expected of children on the farms in those days. Remember, nothing was ever fun but it had to be done.

A few years ago while visiting Virgil in California, he, Joyce and I talked about their lifestyle while living on the Batum farm in the L-B-D, 1920–1949.

Virgil mentioned that he still remembers: (1.) His father telling him about the fire at the Kiesz Lauer Farm in 1924 where Ed lost his barn, two horses, and all of his harness, hay, straw and feed he had stored. The fire was discovered about 2:30 o’clock in the morning. The barn had been built only 10 months prior to the fire. The horses were his pet team which weighed over 3,000 pounds and he had kept them in the barn instead of turning them out with his other horses. (2.) Doing the chores in time before breakfast, getting washed up, changing clothes, catching the school bus. (3.) Cleaning the chicken house, killing the lice. (4.) Removing the manure from inside as well as outside the barn and hauling it to the fields and spreading it. (5.) Using kerosene lamps and lanterns. (6.) Wearing “long handled” underwear in the winters. (7.) Wearing large brim hats in the summer because of the sun. (8.) Wearing bib overalls. (9.) Having a “Sunday suit, shirt and tie” for church.

Until next time.

Your Relative, Spokane