Keeping Warm On Fairfield Ridge

I am sure that perhaps many of you have never slept in a bedroom that had no heat under many comforters to keep warm. Such was the case in our old farm house on Fairfield Ridge. There was no central heat and we heated the house with the kitchen cook stove and a small Round Oak wood stove in a smaller room. Perhaps I am throwing the words "heated the house" just a bit loose as we did not even attempt to heat the whole house which by the way was not insulated. The only heat in the upstairs was from the stovepipe that ran from the kitchen stove to a chimney that started in an upstairs bedroom over the kitchen. The Round Oak wood stove fed into a chimney that came up from the cellar. We had a huge wood furnace downstairs with one register over the top of it that was in the living room that we rarely used except at Christmas Time or when company came. It burned more wood than we could possibly keep up with.

Our comforters were homemade from bleached grain bags and a padding that mother used to buy. She had a large quilting frame that took up most of the kitchen that she would set up when she would tie her quilts that we had to walk around. She had a big needle that she would put down through the quilt than back up through, tie the string in a knot and cut the two pieces about an inch long. The comforters were all one color. I think mother most have got a deal on the color as it was a lavender and we had a lot of lavender comforters. Needless to say, the color didn't matter much as they did keep us warm.

The room where the Old Round Oak wood stove was, was probably a 12 x 12 room. It had doors for privacy as in the winter time it was where we would bring our clothes to dress up, bring a pan of water to take our baths and it was probably the cosiest warmest room in the house as it only had one window. You may have guessed by now that we had no indoor bathroom. We did use pots (There is a nicer word, but I can't think of it right now) for our #1 requirements, however, mother did frown on our using them for #2. I do have to admit that once in a while someone would, but it was difficult to get anybody to fess up to it. In later years, Sears Roebuck came out with a toilet that had a 5 gallon pail under the seat that looked similar to the toilets of today. It had a vent that used a 4 inch metal pipe that connected to the stove pipe and vented in the chimney. We were strongly encouraged, however, to use the outhouse unless it was very cold out.

We sold the farm in 1952 and it still did not have modern plumbing or central heat. After we got electricity in the early 1940s we did find a way to keep warm in those unheated rooms with a homemade bed warmer. It consisted of a wooden cage about six inches in diameter and eighteen inches long. It had a porcelain light fixture inside and you would put a 25 watt bulb in it and put it at the foot of your bed near your feet. It did a great job of keeping you warm without having so many comforters on that you could hardly wiggle underneath them.

Interesting to look back and see the different things that we had to make our lives better and more enjoyable as I remember the Saturdays when mother did her baking and the smell of the fresh baked goods and homemade doughnuts that were made for the following week. Also, I doubt I will ever forget the smell of the bread dough rising and that wonderful smell throughout the house each Saturday night as mother always made our bread during the winter due to the difficulty of getting out to the store from November to May as I knew on Sunday morning for breakfast it would be fried dough, eggs and coffee, the treat of the week.

Some people may think this was a tough way to live, but I look back with great pride on the wonderful loving family I had and how close we all were without every dwelling on things we didn't have, just being thankful for the things we did.