Wistful Wednesday: Milk Pails

This is a photo taken at Far Guys Grandparents farm.  Left to right: Far Guys Dad( Marvin), Grandpa ( James). and  Uncles (Jim) and (Ron)  I believe that this was taken sometime around 1927..in that year the boys would have been  13, 6 and 9.  It looks like they were all helping with the milking.  That is what I would call a cream can ( because of it's size) being carried between the Father and his oldest son.  I would guess and this is just a guess that they only had a few cows..perhaps three or four..as they have three milk pails and three of them could have milked at the same time...perhaps a few of their milk cows were in the process of drying up before they freshened.  You cannot milk a dry cow..and they all dry up four to six weeks before freshening or the birth of a calf.  It is like a mini vacation for the cow and for the farmer too..if you rely on milk everyday like I am sure this farm family did then you want to stagger the breeding of your cows so they don't all dry up at once.   So much for milk cow info deep inside this old brain!

I think that this photo is a wonderful example of teamwork and farm families that worked together everyday:)

Wistful Wednesday : 1927

This is a Osage Minn School 1927, Entire School photo, just like it says on the small chalkboard. Far Guys Dad ( age 13) is in the back row, far left, he is the shortest boy with the wavy hair. I suspect that his younger brother ( age 9) is in the front row, the little kid with the curly hair, sitting on the ground in the front row, far left, with what I perceive to be a black and red plaid coat. His other brother would have been just six, and I am not sure if he attended school that year ..I cannot for the life of me pick him out in this photo.

This is the first photo that I have restored that has a mark on it, in the lower left hand corner right under the wheel chair it reads Old Masters Studio, Fargo , N D I found that interesting. Someone from Fargo apparently was making the rounds taking photographs...it must have been pretty exciting for these kids!

Here is a glimpse into 1927. Calvin Coolidge was President. Powdered Kool Aid was invented by a man from Nebraska. Charles Lindbergh flew the first Trans Atlantic flight from New York City to Paris. In Britain 1,000 people a week die from an influenza outbreak. A new car was $495.00 this was the last year that Ford made the Model T. A loaf of bread was 9 cents a loaf, I imagine only big city people bought bread. A gallon of gas was 12 cents a gallon. A gallon of milk was 56 cents a gallon. No wonder everyone that could have one, had a cow!! The average annual income was $2,400.00

The handicapped child was obviously main streamed into the school, there were only two teachers. I wonder if he lived near the school...or if he was loaded into an old horse drawn wagon to get to school:)
If you click on the photo, it will enlarge for you!