“The Good Old Days” -By Tom Kuehne

Two More Buildings

The last article spoke about the buildings that were built by the original immigrants to protect the humans, the animals and the harvested products from the ravages of mother nature. I neglected to mention two small, but quite important buildings.

The original immigrants to the rural areas of Minnesota had no access to electricity, so refrigerators and freezers were not available to protect and store meats and vegetables for future use. Pickling and salting were used, but they were a limited solution. Smoking of meat products offered an extended shelf life, so smoke houses were the available solution. The meat was first either covered with a layer of salt or placed in a salt brine. The salting process lasted from a few days to as long as months. Some of the meat products were smoked at a high heat, which actually cooked the meat, while others were cured with cool smoke. The hot smoke was created with a smoldering fire below the meat. There was usually a tin protective shield over the fire to keep accidental flames from burning the meat. Cold smoking was usually accomplished by having a fire outside of the smokehouse. The smoke from the outside fire traveled through a pipe, which allowed the heat to be reduced before it entered the smokehouse. The outside fires were below the ground level, low enough to cause the warmth of the smoke to cause the smoke to rise into the smokehouse. After the smoking process was completed, the smokehouse was used as a storage facility for the cured meat. The interior smoky smell of the smokehouse was more uninviting for vermin and bugs. A continual diet of smoked food could become rather tiring, but when

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Due to an owner breaking her wrist Open Sat. & Sun.: 8 AM-4 PM during recovery some alternating meals of chicken, fish and rabbit were added eating got better.

Fuel for the smoking fire was usually hard maple, which added a sweeter taste.

The other needed structure was an outdoor toilet. It's size was sometimes determined by the number of females in the family. There were either one or two sitting locations. Sometimes there was an additional near the floor location with a smaller sitting spot for children that had been more recently trained. The men could relieve themselves in the barn, a cornfield or behind a tree, therefore not using the outhouse as much. There was usually a smaller ventilation hole just under the roof, which was frequently used by birds as an access to a protected area to raise a family. Spiders, sometimes quite large, also felt that the outhouse was a good place to live and put webs across the holes to catch flies that were quite plentiful. The birds that took up residence in the structure evidently considered the spiders to be neighbors and not food. So that it was possible to maintain some order in the building, laths were nailed across the studs to create a holder for the magazines and catalogs that were used for cleanliness and reading. Softer magazine paper was preferred, along with the blue paper that had been used to wrap fruits that had been purchased in a crate. Other more stiff paper needed to be rubbed and crushed frequently to make it more pliable. Gatherings of very soft paper would frequently be turned into a pile of fluff by the mice that were planning to create a nest. As can be seen, the importance and frequency of use of an outhouse made it a must on the homestead.

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When a couple of boys get together, they occasionally develop ideas that are made especially for their own entertainment. When neighboring families came to visit and they had a girl whose age was similar to a resident of the farm, they enjoyed sitting and talking in the outhouse. The boys, of course they never did it, would take a board and slam it against the back of the toilet, causing an extremely loud bang, especially in the outhouse. Hmm... Just a remembrance.

For feedback or story ideas, email Tom at tom@swanvilleinsurance.com.

If you need help with Health or Life Insurance or for Senior Health Solutions Contact: Tom Kuehne 320-360-0343

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