My Life in the Little Brown House, part 2: Kitchen and Sun Room

The kitchen and the sun room were the most “lived-in” rooms of the little brown house. There was a large open archway between the two rooms. Deep down in me I have a vague memory that the kitchen ended as a blank wall where the archway was — whether this was something I really remembered from when I was a very small infant and before the sun room was constructed I don’t know. Right adjacent to the sun room, on the west wall of the kitchen, a door led to the stairs leading down to the landing that led in turn to the back door. Along the sides of the landing were coat hooks for hanging up coats, caps, etc. At one end there was a small low cupboard where rubbers, overshoes, etc. were stores. My father also used the landing as a place to put on or take off the coveralls he used while milking the cow and tending to the chickens, morning and evening. Just outside the door from the kitchen, at the top of the stairs there was a cupboard that I believe my mother used for storing various kitchen items.














Main floor plan of little brown house

Just to the right of the door from the kitchen stood my mother’s kitchen cabinet, a movable unit that served multiple purposes. On its left end was a flour storage unit that was large enough to hold a whole sack of flour. I’d guess that a flour sack might hold 40 to 50 pounds of flour. The cabinet had a mechanism for lowering the storage bin (which was relatively tall compared to its cross-section) at the same time as stretching a couple of springs that eased the raising of the bin back into its usual position. At the bottom of the bin was a little sifter for use when taking flour from the bin. The rest of the upper half of the cabinet provided storage for dishes (china) and for other materials such as sugar and spices used in cooking. The bottom part of the cabinet was for storage of pots and pans, etc. The kitchen cabinet was similar to the one in my grandmother Peterson’s kitchen, but it was an item lacking in the kitchen at my grandfather Strand’s home. To the right of the kitchen cabinet was the sink and drainboard. The dishes were usually washed by my mother in my earlier years; later on washing and wiping became the province of my sisters, though I recall wiping dishes on occasion. I think my mother readily ceded the task of washing dishes to my sisters — my grandmother on the other hand kept the function for herself virtually all her life. The north wall of the kitchen was taken up by cupboards, both high and low and on the right end of these cupboards was the telephone. All during my childhood the telephone was the old-fashioned type, with a cabinet made of wood; the mouthpiece on the front could be tilted up or down to suit the height of the user (who stood as he or she used the phone). The earpiece hung on a hook on the side of the wooden box; taking off the earpiece from the hook actuated the phone. In the town of Gowrie, use of the phone was made by ringing (using the little crank on the side opposite from where the earpiece was hung); when the operator answered, the appropriate number was given her and she made the connection to the desired person. When the call was finished there was supposed to be a “ring-off” ring to alert the operator that the call was finished and she would make the disconnect. When we were on the party line after we moved to the farm, calls to phones in town or other country lines were made through the “central” in Gowrie and her attention was generated by a single ring. Calls on the party line were made by a combination of short and long rings — each user having his or her own specific combination. The calls could of course be listened in on by anyone on the party line; this “rubbering” in was a fairly common practice, oftentimes as a matter of neighborly concern or interest.




















Hand-cranked telephone

My mother had the practice of calling my grandmother once a day to discuss the day’s doings and these calls might last for 5 to 15 minutes (my impression). Usually these would be made in the latter part of the morning I seem to recall. But of course there were other times of telephone communication between the two residences as well.