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Show Volume XIV Issue XVII The Ogden Valley news Page 11 June 15, 2007 Spring Houses, Cellars, and Gardens in Ogden Valley Note: This article was taken from which usually kept until early spring. On was on a mission and she had only five little more than any other person, has experi“Remember My Valley” by LaVerna Burnett the ledges of each side of the entrance were girls about, she left it alone to find its way out mented with various fruit trees. boxes of home-made soap. by itself. Another time, she battled in the celIn 1929, Agnes Burnett of Eden recordNewey (1977). Since there were not electric lights lar with a large rat and beat it to death. ed in her diary that her raspberries were The old-time cellar, chock full of good being sold at 70 cents a case. No one in Ogden Valley in those early in the cellar, the door was left open in Alonzo King’s Huntsville strawberdays needed to be reminded by the Church good weather to provide light when one things to eat, may sound to some of this day to have a year’s supply of food on hand. entered, or a coal oil lamp was carried like a “bonanza.” But remember, it took ries were well-known and sought after hard work on the part of the entire family on the market during the 1950’s but Common sense and necessity prompted down to sort, fetch, or clean. The cellar house was usually located a the entire year to provide such a larder. since his retirement and death, the berthis annual action. In fact, those who didn’t Gardens were a part of the farming ries have been plowed under. have a cellar full of bottled fruit and a gar- little distance from the home, and like the hisThomas Stoker was a prominent comden became gamblers with starvation the tory-famous outside privy, occasioned incon- operation of Ogden Valley. It is said by venience and discomfort in finding your way some that Brigham Young once made a mercial truck gardener during the 1930’s following winter. prediction that the time would come when and 1940’s. Because of our cool nights, his I remember when I was a little girl, every to it in the wintertime or on dark nights. Occasionally we would open the cellar the Valley would raise almost every type lettuce and cabbages were as big as buckets backyard contained a root cellar which was heaped with applies, potatoes, turnips, door after a wet spring thaw to find water of fruit and vegetable. The word “almost” and were in great demand. One day, he squash, onions, carrots, dried corn, dried had risen from the floor to almost the third is emphasized because it is certain that cit- took 1,397 cases of raspberries to Ogden fruits, cured meats, and other nonperishable step down. Empty bottles and fruit would rus fruits will never grow here. However, from Huntsville for neighbors and himself. home-grown food. But even with all this, be floating around in a muddy, murky mess. home gardens and small fruits have come He raised everything except watermelon, young pigweed and dandelion greens tasted It usually took about two weeks for the a long way from the days when the Mrs. cantaloupes, and celery. water to sink again in the dirt floor. The Jennie Niels’ family moved to Liberty in A ready access to supermarkets in mighty good in the early spring. Ogden and fresh vegetables and fruits in Every small farm usually boasted a few door was left open to dry out and then a 1876. Said she: “We had pigs, geese, a turkey, and a our own valley stores has persuaded the chickens, a pig or so, at least one cow, and a general clean-up ensured, with all bottles vegetable and berry garden. Although we abandonment of this once necessary part growing young calf for slaughter in the fall. washed and sterilized again. In anticipation of this frequent occur- planted fruit trees, the blossoms came but of our living. There are those of us who A few of the homes had smokehouses and those who didn’t salted the meat down in rence, the filled bottles were rotated to the no fruit because of the late frosts in the still like to gather in the fresh delicacies barrels so it wouldn’t spoil. Some of them top of the shelves and if we were lucky, spring. The only tree I remember that bore with our own hands. In this day of high fruit was the blue plum. My, how delicious prices, half of the food bill can be saved put their meat in ice houses with sawdust. they wouldn’t be harmed. It was just after such a drying-out event was the taste of those blue plums!” with a garden. Working in the soil is Hams were covered with a mixture of The Valley is especially good apple and also a means of relieving tensions in this brown sugar and salt which was rubbed that Mother went down to clean and came into the meat, repeated for several days, and face-to-face with a porcupine. Since Papa plum country. Darold Michelson, perhaps fast-moving, changing world. then wrapped in cheesecloth and hung from rafters by wires. Those who didn’t have cellars hung their winter larder of meat in sheds or trees and kept a close watch on them for two- or four-legged thieves. Everything on a pig was utilized—except the squeal—even to pickled pigs’ feet, hogs head cheese, sausage, and mincemeat. But make no mistake, although the names may elicit loud noises of disapproval from the present generation, the very meticulously cleaned and scrumptiously prepared vittles were delicious to taste and delightful to look at. For some, the root cellars were known as rock cellars. Deep holes large as a room were dug into the ground and lined with rock. A pointed house-like roof was built over it and sturdy stairs led down into its cool darkness. The whitewashed walls were swept down each spring to exterminate the spiders. The big potato and vegetable bins were carefully sorted over by the children who “sprouted” the potatoes, which meant the sprouts were taken off the potatoes to prevent their growing too soft before spring planting. The eyes were cut off for seed to be used in the spring gardens. Around the walls were shelves loaded with bottled fruit, chokecherry jelly, pickBaseball Team Valley Jr. High 1947-48. Back row left to right: Coach R. Glen Miller, Clark Olsen, Neil Farrell, les, and preserves. Slabs of bacon and Parker Harris, Larry Bailey, Don Berchtold, Dean Lindsay. Front row: Maun Hislop, Dale Berlin, Pat McGill, Don Shaw, smoked hams hung from the ceilings in the Gene Burton. Photo courtesy of Ned Clark. winter. The floor contained boxes of apples Historical Photo Celeste C. Canning PLLC Attorney at Law 2590 Washington Boulevard, Suite 200 Ogden, Utah 84401 Local: (801) 791-1092 Office: (801) 612-9299 Email: ccanninglaw@aol.com Meeting the Legal Needs of Small Business and Their Owners FREE Initial Thirty Minute Consultation. Appointments in Ogden Valley upon request. |