Like the presumable majority of people in the world, when traced back in time both my mother and father's lines eventually lead to farmers. Although neither of my parents grew up on farms, as recently as the 1950's one set of my great-grandparents and two sets of my great-great-grandparents were still farming. Because of their subsistence farming techniques and strong family support, these ancestors of mine were able to successfully farm throughout obstacles such as the great depression. They lived off the land in opposite parts of the country in the Appalachian region of the eastern United States and in the mountainous american west for decades. Eventually, however, the farming tradition in my family faded with increased education and a trend toward modernity.
On my mother's side, my grandmother, Mary Ann Sinnhuber, was born in 1938 on a dairy farm in rural Pennsylvania at the end of the great depression (Historical Timeline 1929-39). They had about 100 acres upon which were 10 milk cows, an apple orchard, hay fields, a vegetable garden, chickens, dogs and cats. "We had everything we needed; a garden full of enough vegetables for us to eat, we made our own cottage cheese and butter from the milk from our cows, we even had a small building with a traditional fired oven for baking bread," (Sinnhuber).
Although times were harder for Mary Ann's family during the depression due to rationing of goods, they were able to get by because of the support of the familial community they lived in and the produce they farmed for themselves. However, her father, Joseph Kosusko, had to buy rationed meat and grains from outside sources (Sinnhuber). On my father's side, my great-great grandfathers David Bisel and Erb Johnson had larger farms with plenty of meat and dairy products to supply to their family and sell the market with about 70 milk cows and 25 beef cows each. Yet, they did not have the abundance of fruit and vegetables the Kosuskos enjoyed in humid Pennsylvania. However, they were able to comfortably weather the depression by providing for themselves with the small wheat crop, oats, and peas they grew, along with continuing to barter with locals when major markets crashed and trucking precious milk to Salt Lake City. Since none of my ancestors had enormous farms that depended on mass markets and exporting crops, they were able to survive the hard times (Stephens).
The Johnsons, Bisels, and Kosuskos never had to hire labor. Family members, both immediate an extended, provided the work required to run their farms. Erb Johnson and David Bisels had many able children to help complete tasks on the farm. In Pennsylvania, Joseph Kosusko had immigrated from Hungary after World War I to join a community of his cousins. "Everybody helped each other out, we shared food with each other and when the time came to collect the hay the cousins would come to our field and help us, then we would go to theirs and do the same the next day," says Sinnhuber. The many children of Johnson and Bisel provided enough labor to adequately man their farms.
As technology advanced, my ancestors followed by introducing new methods into their farming techniques and lifestyles. All three of the ancestral farms of my family in the early 20th century did not have electricity until the 1930's (Sinnhuber, Stephens), around the time of the Rural Electrification Act (Historical Timeline 1936). In addition to electricity, the farmers gradually converted from the natural power of horses to higher horsepower tractors. "Bisel had great big draft horses until after the second world war, then he finally shifted to tractors," (Stephens). Seeing the value of the popular all-purpose tractors (Historical Timeline 1930), David Bisel used his tractor for many different farm tasks. Kosusko and Johnson also purchased tractors before mid-century (Sinnhuber, Stephens).
Farming on my mother's line fizzled out when Joseph Kosusko was drafted to serve in World War II. Neighboring cousins helped the family keep the farm running but by the time he returned home the family had moved into a smaller house on less land. They kept a vegetable garden there, but Joseph went to work at a mill (Sinnhuber). The Johnsons sold most of their land after WWII, upon which the first Walmart in Utah was built. The Bisel land is still intact today but not actively farmed (Stephens). I feel a connection to the farming history of my family. The self-sustaining life they lived inspires me to one day grow a vegetable garden of my own and cultivate crops (and possibly animals) to enjoy the fresh bounty of the earth.
"Historical Timeline." Agriculture in the Classroom. Web. 20 Jan. 2015. <http://www.agclassroom.org/gan/timeline/index.htm>.
Sinnhuber, Mary Ann. Personal interview. 19 January 2015.
Stephens, David Bisel. Personal interview. 19 January 2015.
