DOG DAYS
and
Mummaleeka Cake Recipe
by Lillian Hein Remmick
Copyrighted 1994
All rights are reserved. This story, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission. Published by Remmick-Hubert Corp.221 Main Street, Suite 1300, San Francisco, California, 94105
The late days of July and most of August which were unusually hot were called "Dog Days".
Once I asked why they were called dog days and was told it was a time when dogs some times went mad because of the extreme heat. It this is true or not I really don't know.
It was the time when the grain turned into golden sea waving in the hot wind and binders in the fields would be cutting grain and trying it into bundles. Then every available person would be out there following the binders picking up bundles and forming them into schocks. This was called shocking. One would hold a bundle upright and several bundles would be leaned securely around the one up-right and left to dry. This was repeated until the whole field because a mass of golden shocks.
Earlier than 1890s |
After 1890s to early 1900s |
"Then every available person would be out there following the binders picking up bundles and forming them into schocks".
We would be dressed in navy blue bib overalls, long sleeved blue chambray shirts, sensible shoes, gloves and a wide brimmed straw hats to protect us from the sun.
Shown to the left are advertisement taken out of a Sears Roebuck Catalog dated in the late1930s. The add reads for the overalls: "Everybody's wearing them! Wearing what? Why, wearing overalls, of course! They're all the rage in every fashionable center in the country! The most exclusive shops on Fifth Avenue are selling them! And smart women everywhere are finding them the most sensible, the most comfortable, as well as the most chic style ever! Your wardrobe is incomplete without a pair of them. Price for the overalls was $1.75. Blouse $1.09 To photograph young people are: Helen, nee Schwabuaer, who is wearing the "riding togs", and with her husband, Richard Hein, his sister Christina Hein, who is wearing the "overalls" and who would later m. Ed Lepp and some friends. It was taken on the Hein Ranch near Sidney, MT abt 1939-40. |
Overalls Riding Togs |
There was a lot of comradery involved as we laughed, teased, and chattered as we worked. All farm children old enough to work, girls and boys alike, would do this work and it never was thought of as drudgery as it was simply a necessary part of a farm child's existence. Especially if you were an American born of Russian German parents.
It was also a time for wild choke cherry and wild grape pickings. Dressed in our usual bib overalls, long sleeved blue chambray shirts buttoned snugly at the writs,and over wide brimmed straw hats we'd gather up every available milk bucket and head for the wilderness along the Yellowstone River.
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| "We would be dressed in navy blue bib overalls, long sleeved blue chambray shirts, sensible shoes, gloves and a wide brimmed straw hats to protect us from the sun." | ||
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After eating our fill and all buckets were full to the brim we'd head for home.
At the plump by the old well we'd set up tubs and while one would pump so the water gushed over the berries, others would skin and wash until the berries were sparkling clean. Then on to the summer kitchen where the next day the aroma of jellies being made would fill the air. If you've never eaten choke cherry or wild grape jelly you've missed a wonderful treat.
Mother sometimes made wine from the excess berries which she would brew in the large twenty gallon crocks before bottling, however, the making of it is still a mystery to me.
