As the season changed from summer to fall, and the hours of natural daylight grew shorter each day, chores were done by lantern light. The was no electricity on farms in those days.
The twice-a-day milking of the cows was now done in the early morning darkness before the girls went to school and again after school in the fading light of late afternoon. Papa, Mama and the girls worked as long as they could in the increasing darkness without using a lantern, to be saving of the kerosene.
Fall continued to be a busy time of food preparation for the coming winter. Mama had been canning vegetables and making preserves for months. Now she worked on the last of the cucumbers for pickles and made relishes from the remaining tomatoes, onions and peppers.
When an early fall night felt as if there might be a frost, Mama sent the girls out to cover the garden with old sheets to protect what was still growing. In the morning, the girls uncovered the plants for another day of growth in the warm sun. Often there might be an early frost, followed by several more weeks of mild weather. The green tomatoes remaining in the garden were brought inside to ripen on boards or window sills.
At last, it was time to harvest the potatoes. They whole family worked together to gather that very important garden crop. Using one of the horses, Papa plowed next to the plants to loosen the potatoes from the soil. The potatoes had grown underground all summer long while the girls had hoed, watered and picked insects off their leaves.
Everyone worked together to pick up the potatoes, carefully removing any loose dirt, and carrying them in bushel baskets to a lumber wagon. The potatoes remained in the wagon several days to dry. They took the potatoes to the cellar and placed them in wooden barrels for use throughout the winter.
Now the cellar shelves had row after row of glass canning jars filled with wonderful things from the summer garden. In addition to the potatoes, there were barrels of turnips, carrots, parsnips and heavy crocks of sauerkraut. Sacks of dried onions hung from the wooden rafters.
It was a good feeling to walk down the steps and look around the well-stocked cellar.
