CHAPTER TWELVE 



The Household Chores 



LET us now, after a brief but comprehensive 

 glance at the farm, see how it affects the house- 

 hold. For it is in the house that all the work and 

 all the planning on the farm culminate in a grand 

 final crescendo. 



Except for the business of caring for milk and 

 cleaning the dairy utensils, the only household 

 work that is distinctly traceable to the farm is the 

 care and preserving of foodstuffs. When I say 

 "household work" I mean the kind of task gen- 

 erally presumed to be woman's special province. 

 And I make that statement after long and earnest 

 communion not only with myself but with the 

 other three-quarters of my household. If we abol- 

 ished the farm as a productive enterprise tomor- 

 row, canning, pickling, preserving, dehydrating, 

 and the like are the only definitely farm chores 

 of which the household would be relieved. 



There is no peak season for the preservative 

 function; it goes on all the time. For the sake of 

 chronological clarity let us start in the spring. As 

 soon as surpluses of vegetables or fruits begin to 



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