Around the Homestead: The Barn

In drought years, no amount of hard work on the farm could produce a crop. But women’s work kept food on the table. Women raised gardens, milked cows, separated cream from milk to churn into butter, and raised chickens for eggs and meat. They traded vegetables, eggs, and cream for credit at the store. Some also brought in a little money by sewing clothes or selling pies and cakes. 

"If she don’t know you, you gotta come by that cow real quiet and nice if you want milk with no trouble. If she don’t like you she’ll kick! So go nice! Now chickens, they’re different. They might peck you but they don’ really care about the egg you want. They’re kinda dumb about it, chickens. Just take the egg quick and that chicken might not even notice you! Now keep everything clean and don’t waste anything. If you’ve got something, see how you can keep it for later. You know, dry it, make a jam, a sausage, sauerkraut or cheese—don’t let what God gives you go bad. And see the rest to Mister Stanley. That’s how you make it—lot of work, but you make it."

With little rain and no irrigation, Keota’s farmers had to use a technique called “dryland farming.” They plowed deeply in the fall to let water reach farther, harrowed (smoothed out the soil) after a rain to keep the moisture in the ground, and left lands fallow in the summer months. This method was only partly successful, and the soil was vulnerable to wind and erosion. When serious drought came in the 1930s, dryland farming was a major part of what led to the Dust Bowl.