The Persistence of Traditional Farming in Southeastern Indiana Memories of My Grandparents’ Farm

Abstract

Indiana native Carl Doerner recalls life on his grandparents’ farm in Franklin County, Indiana, in the early and mid-twentieth century. Oliver Baas and Ida Zimmer Baas followed the traditional, diversified agriculture of small family farms and the traditional patterns of farm labor. Doerner writes of rural life before electrification; threshing with steam-engine-powered machinery; raising cows, chickens, and pigs; preserving meat and canning from a kitchen garden; and maintaining traditions of neighbors working together.