April 4 thru April 5, 1894

I will not be transcribing each entry since most of Bert's diary is pretty clear. You can read the original more easily by clicking on the image above to view a larger version. I will be including this paragraph, or something similar in each entry so that new readers will know they can click the image to enlarge it for easier reading. Also, there will be some links to the right of the page with relevant information that may be of interest. If you follow Bert's diary regularly, you can skip this paragraph. My notes will include the basics of what Bert talks about each day, along with my own personal thoughts, research, information gleaned from past or future entries, etc. If you have information or suggestions that may help my research, please e-mail me.

Wednesday, April 4, 1894 - A short entry, but what is there to talk about when it was just the usual chores, and then "husked corn all day". Not sure if they might have had some sort of mechanical device? At best he might have had something like one of the two items shown below which would help strip the outer leaves (husks) from the ears of corn a bit faster. Of course this corn has dried all winter, so the husks do come off a bit easier than husking the fresh sweet corn from the farm market in the fall as we do now. The corn is usually husked and picked in one operation as shown in the video below.Video of the 2009 Nebraska Hand Corn Husking Competition below. After viewing this 5 minute video, imagine doing this all day! I love the fact that the video shows it snowing just as it does tomorrow when they are plowing. Today it is raining which can't be a lot more hospitable!



Thursday, April 5, 1894 - The beginning of spring plowing. Bert plowed all day, and Russel - his boss - plowed for the afternoon. This would have been a long slow process, using a horse drawn plow guided along and kept in the ground properly by sheer physical labor, with lots of extra jolts when they would hit any of the stones or rocks that they might have missed the other day!
Video of horse drawn plowing below.


They must have plowed for a long day because they did not get the chores done until 9PM! And it was cold enough that it snowed some during the day. The picture above is not far off from what the area around Naples, Italy, Ingleside would have looked like.... and still does. Very hilly, and high enough elevation to have a quite short growing season! Today the hills are dotted with huge wind turbines.