RURAL LIFE IN LITCHFIELD COUNTY 



Many of the garden crops that are now so readily 

 preserved for winter use by canning, were preserved in 

 the early days by drying. Nearly every kitchen was 

 festooned from the ceiling with strings of dried apples, 

 sliced pumpkins and squash and red peppers, and often 

 the shelves were covered with sweet corn, green peas, 

 currants and sometimes with berries from the woods 

 and fields. Before the days of railroads, when there 

 was little travel from place to place, each family was 

 sure to provide itself with a goodly store of everything 

 that could add to the physical comfort of the family 

 during the long winter season. The family constituted 

 the only market for the farm products, and the needs of 

 the family and of the live stock were a measure of the 

 crops grown. 



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