| ORGANIZATIONS IN CRUMTOWN AND SOUTH DANBY The farmers of Crumtown and South Danby organized in 1919 to hire someone to haul their cans of milk to the milk plant in the village. Peter Paajanen and Frank Allen were the first so employed, followed over the years by Charles Kokkonen, Alfred Burlew and Alex (Urho) Pyhtila. The hauling was done with horses and wagon or sleigh, then later by truck when the roads were passable. The farmers also organized to buy a threshing machine to thrash their oats, wheat and buckwheat. A machine to chop and send the field corn into the silo was also purchased. The men traded labor at each other’s farms to help get the grain threshed. They also assisted each other to hand cut the standing corn and lent their horses and wagons to take the corn to the silo filler. The women however, worked alone or with the help of children, to feed this army of hungry men, sometimes for days at a time if the machines malfunctioned. The days before the harvest crew arrived a large supply of bread (mostly whole wheat), Finnish coffee bread, cake and cookies was baked in the ovens of the wood-burning ranges in the hot days of late summer. “Store-bought” cookies and Finnish zwieback “Korppuja” were kept in reserve in case the homemade pastries ran short during the frequent coffee breaks. Coffee served with home-baked goodies was offered when the men first arrived in the morning and again at 10:00 A.M. A big dinner was served at noon, coffee again at 3:00 P.M. and supper before the men left for home. In most homes the water had to be carried into the house. It had to be heated on the stove for washing the dishes. In addition to this, routine chores had to be done as usual. When the farmers held their business meetings for the harvesting company or the milk hauling, the language spoken was Finnish. Alfred Burlew was the only member of this company who spoke no Finnish. He was usually one of the main topics of discussion. Alfred was the owner and operator of the tractor that powered the harvesting equipment and some years, the milk hauler. One of the children of the farmers involved, many years later, told Alfred’s widow Ethel, of her embarrassment concerning the language spoken at the meetings, and how awkward it must have been for Alfred. “You needn’t have felt sorry for Alfred because you’d be surprised how much Finnish he understood and knew what was being discussed”, Ethel replied with a knowing smile. |