Winter in Saskatchewan: My Dad's Heritage

I've written stories about my Dutch Gramma and Grampa on my mother's side.....and their stories are quite interesting and well documented in Gramma's diary for posterity.

But my dad's side of the family also has a few stories - albeit passed on by word of mouth which may make them suspect for accuracy since my uncles - when they all got together - could really weave some yarns.  I am thinking that's the Irish blood in them.

Family photo - Jim and Charlie, Grampa on top the cart

My Grandfather rode out from Orangeville Ontario Canada first by train and then continued on by ox and cart.  I can't imagine what kind of a trip that would have been.   Jim and Charlie - the two oxen - were the main means of power around the farm.

  It was the boys' chore to take them to the river to drink every day.  In the fall, trips were made until the river froze over.   They would then just melt the snow for water.

One day, early fall, the river had frozen on the shoreline and Jim the Ox slipped and split his legs (when a heavy ox or cow did 'the splits' -it is not possible to mend ) and they had to shoot him.
Grandma sent them a letter telling the rest of the family the bad news - that "Jim slipped and split his legs and had to be shot".  Of course, everyone she wrote this piece of news to, thought the "Jim" she mentioned was one of my dad's brothers - "Jim".  It caused quite the stir amongst the family.

I am not sure what kind of medical care they had access to on the prairies - that they actually would think that someone would have to be shot for the sake of a broken leg that couldn't be fixed.

Speaking of which, my father was born on the farm on the Saskatchewan prairies as were his brothers and sister.    He was born at home in the middle of winter, under circumstances much like those my Midwife Grandmother had attended in Alberta. 

He came into the world on New Years Eve -  fireplace going....water boiling on the stove.   Celebrations put on hold as they all waited for the news.   There were no hospitals anywhere nearby if anything were to go wrong. 

I don't have to tell you, he made it ok.

Delivering at home was, as was with everyone living in remote Canada,  the only option unless you had the means to drive miles and miles to the nearest city....and since Grandma and Grandpa didn't have a car until they moved to Vancouver  in the 1940s, that wasn't going to happen.   Even the nearest store, a little general store where they would buy the necessities, was 10 miles away.

Because they lived on a farm, the only items they needed to buy was sugar and a little flour, since they did grind some of their own coarse flour on a grinder rigged up out of  an old car motor.  Everything else would come from the land - vegetables, fruits, berries, nuts.  Saskatoon berries (I have at least 12 shrubs growing in my yard here in BC - they grow wild in the Okanagan Valley) were plenteous, and the gardens would reap bushels of strawberries.

A type of coffee was made from roasting, then brewing - coarse ground barley.  I suppose this is similar to Ovaltine - a "coffee substitute" which uses malted barley for one of it's main ingredients.

Canning for winter was a must.  Every sort of vegetable grown was canned.  Jams made.  Potatoes were gathered and stored in a cellar, unwashed, so they would keep.  Turnips, carrots - all the root vegetables would be squirrelled away for the winter months.

 It didn't matter how old you were, if you could walk around - you could work.

As little kids they would go to school in their one room schoolhouse, but also would have their chores to do at home when their classes were finished for the day - or early morning before walking to school - milking cows, gathering eggs, feeding the pigs and chickens....

My uncle told me that one day they were sent to the neighbor's to help stook the oats so the hayracks could pick them up and take them to the thrashers.  As 8 and 10  year old boys, my dad and my uncle would walk the five miles to the neighbor's and do work in the fields, then after, would sleep in the barn, then come home again after the next day's work.  No thought was given as to whether this was safe to walk there and back or whether it was even work that little kids should be doing.

Their sources for amusement were varied.  Fishing, swimming - all things kids do nowadays but with variations.   My dad would tell me how they would set snares for the groundhogs or gophers.  These animals were a nuisance for the farmers - making holes in the field where horses or cows could catch a leg in and injure themselves.  The boys would get once cent for each tail they could bring in.

At the young age of 12 or 13 - the boys would take their rifles and check their trapline for weasels or coyotes or the occasional rabbit.  They would take along sandwiches - usually jam - which became frozen stiff and difficult to eat in the sub zero winter weather.  My father tells of the time they were gone so long - they missed supper.  Darkness falling by 4-5 pm, Grandma was worried, and by the time they got home, Grandma was crying - thinking they were lost and frozen somewhere.


Anyway, every Christmas, it wasn't really Christmas unless Grandma, and later on - my mother continued the tradition - made Mennonite Fruit Soup "Plumamousse"....... Grandma would make for her now Irish family....

Here is that recipe.  It is as delicious as it was back then, full of flavor in it's sweet goodness, and great if you have any problems in the area of regularity. You could actually blend it and freeze it and use it for a "Prune Whip" in lieu of any laxatives.

Please go to this site for a slightly different recipe

Plumamousse

1 package of Prunes
1 package of dried apricots
1 package of raisins
1/2 cup sugar
2 (or so to thicken) Tablespoons Flour

Optional:
You can add a can of cherries, or dried cherries, apples or peaches - or to make it really easy, instead of separate bags of dried fruit - use a huge bag of mixed fruit that you can buy at Costco.  You can also add cinnamon.

Cover with water or apple juice (then you can leave out the sugar)
Let sit overnight to soak
Boil mixture to soften fruit but leave intact - approx 15-20 minutes, and add cornstarch or flour to thicken
Add milk to thin and eat!
Can serve cold or hot.

Here is a similar recipe on a great Mennonite Recipes site using Tapioca pudding