Wistful Wednesday: 1940’s

I have a number of old snapshots of rural America. I was showing them to my Dad…sometimes he is the storyteller.

“In the 1940’s my Brothers George and Adolf would go over to Comstock ( Comstock is a little town south of Moorhead Minnesota.) They would pick potatoes there.

 They picked potatoes in a bushel basket and then dumped two baskets into a bag. I think they were paid by the bushel.  25 cents a bushel sounds about right.”

Dad thought that two men would walk behind the wagon and pick the spuds and then load the bags on the wagon.

These women in the photos have their huivi’s on and obviously brought a child along too. Huivi is Finn for a scarf or head covering. Those are potato sacks that they have tied around their backsides.

When we first moved to the resort back in 1986…I took the girls out with five gallon buckets to glean a potato field after the harvesters were done.  They complained the entire time..but we gleaned enough to last the entire winter:)