When I am writing down various “Ruby Stories” I feel sad I can’t get into a time machine with my camera and snap some photos of the people, places and events that she talks about. To have a photo of the Chinaman who delivered vegetables by horse and cart to the more remote farms, or capture an image of ‘Toddler Margie’ being wheeled down to the blackberry patch in a barrow, because Ruby had a taste for blackberry pie that night, and the path was no place for a proper pram!
So as I tell tonight’s story, I’ll just have to run a tandem picture story of the current events in Ruby’s garden!
When Ruby was about 14 years old, the property they lived on had (among other things) around 50 chickens. There were always hens and young roosters, plus plenty of chicks. Eggs were plentiful, and a fresh chicken dinner was a much welcomed change from corned meat.
Remember – no fridge to store meat for longer periods of time like we enjoy today!
At this particular time, Ruby’s Granny had fallen ill, and Ruby’s mother made the trip over the water (to Melbourne) to take care of her for a short while.
Well, Sunday rolled around, Mum wasn’t home and the usual roast chicken dinner was in danger of not happening because Ruby’s father was much to busy to sort that kind of thing out. The kids (Ruby, her sister and two brothers) were not keen on missing out on their fresh roasted chicken dinner.
They convinced their father that they could do it because “they knew everything” (don’t we all at 14 years old?)
So between a visiting girlfriend of Ruby’s and the two boys, they ran down a fat healthy rooster, dispatched, plucked and cleaned – just as they saw their mother do!
Unfortunately at this point Ruby realised that she didn’t know how to do the stuffing and came to the conclusion that you can’t actually bake a chook if it didn’t have stuffing!
Enter plan B.
Boil Chicken.
They knew enough to put some vegies in the pot with the chicken – some onion & carrots.
Ruby’s dad got in and checked on progress – only to find wheat floating around in the water with the chicken & vegetables! “What did you put in it??”
Turned out, even though they did a great job of cleaning the bird, they didn’t take the crop out so the unfortunate chickens last breakfast was now floating in Sunday’s dinner.
Ruby can’t recollect how her Dad saved Sunday dinner – she suspects he threw out the water and started again.
Things were totally fine until her mother returned from Melbourne and couldn’t seem to locate her recently purchased prize breeding rooster!!!!
There were scolding’s all around, but most of the heat was taken by her father for not supervising the children well enough!!
Apparently they were not popular!!
I wondered what they did with all the eggs. 50 chickens really means a lot of spare eggs, and because all the nearby farms had their own poultry as well, you couldn’t give or sell them to your neighbours.
Apparently, once motor vehicles were a bit more common, a fellow with a truck did the rounds of the out of town properties with groceries. You could make an order with him and he would deliver to your door. At the same time you could offload all your excess eggs as well – which would reduce your grocery bill
It was the job of the kids, of course, to collect the eggs.
After school, eggs needed collecting, someone needed to gather the ‘morning sticks’ (kindling to start the fire the next morning) and someone needed to bring the cow in.
Bringing in the cow really was the most sought after job because you got to ride the pony!! A few sibling squabbles took place over this, even though they were meant to take turns. Really – some things never change no matter what decade we live in!
I enjoyed my cuppa with Ruby and writing the story down – she had a real chuckle when I told her I wanted the story of cooking the wrong chook!
I left her in her warm lounge room with her knitting
Cheers
I am the youngest of 5. We raised chickens in the summer and butchered them in the fall to last all year. Big things, about 12 to 15 pounds. Like a small turkey. I started out plucking feathers and gradually as the others left home my job was also cleaning out the inside of the chickens. Not the most pleasant job, but on a farm there were a lot of jobs that weren’t pleasant. Chicken-cleaning was not a favorite when there were 60 or more to get done – not all at once though – about 20 at a time. Now I buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts because they’re easy and I hate picking meat off bones.
In comparison, it must be like heaven to be able to buy the meat, sans rest of chicken! No wonder you do that!! 🙂 20 at a time!!!
Great story! So interesting that those young kids plucked the chicken and cooked it with no help. My kids would not have a clue. I am starting to teach them little things about preparing food though. I have 2 girls, ages 7 and 4. The first time I cooked a frozen turkey from the grocery store I cooked it with the “bag in”. We live and learn. I look forward to Ruby Tuesday. Tell Ruby we hope she will keep those little gems coming!
Ruby said she used to follow her mother about – watching and wanting to ‘help’ So I guess she would have picked up a lot of useful stuff that way! I suppose a lot of people would not have a clue these days about cleaning a chicken! (myself included, altho I reckon I could give it a fair go!)
I am sure your girls love getting in and getting some grown up jobs in the kitchen!
My early efforts in the kitchen earned me banishment (hee hee) I think my mother thought it was less work if I wasn’t there! (I got better tho)
My mother-in-law told the story that she purposely made mistakes in the kitchen so she didn’t have to work or learn! This was during the war with strict rationing – no wastage tolerated. However this came around to “bite” her, as a newly wed, she lived very rural [she was a middleclass city girl]. Milk came from the goat and refrigeration was the creek out back. Very quickly she had 4 boys and with two step-children, she was forced to learn.
Wow – that would have been a rude shock, not to mention a very steep learning curve!!
Those early times for her must have been so tough!
Oh, how I loved this story of another time!
I could almost see the children doing their chores and the chicken being roasted!
How wonderful that you still have Ruby to share stories, gardening and tea.
I’d say you are both blessed!
Thanks Mary! Glad you enjoyed. I keep thinking of baked chicken now… not that I would do one of ours.. but yum!! 🙂
Thank you for sharing your Ruby with us. What a wonderful lady!
You’re welcome! We are so lucky – I learn a lot from her!
I’m so glad your recording your family history. Besides being fun to read, i think it’s so important to know one’s past.
And i love Aunt Ruby’s stories. They always warm my heart! Thanks for sharing them with us! 🙂
Thanks Deborah! It is nice to have these little stories noted somewhere! I get the best end of the deal, though, gathering them up over a cuppa and cake!
Great story Lisa. Reminds me of one when we lived in Yackandandah and Adrian decided he and the girls would kill, pluck and cook a chook for Sunday lunch on a Sunday when I was working at the Yackandandah Hospital. I came home about 2pm looking forward to a late but enjoyable roast lunch. The chook was still in the oven (they waited for me I supposed) but none of them wanted to eat it as Adrian hadn’t pushed the legs up when he first plucked it so here was this “thing” that looked like a chook with its two legs almost reaching the door of the oven. We really eat with our eyes before our mouths.
LOL – Oh I can imagine!! Funny stories I remember from your days at Yackandandah!!! 😀 Great memories visiting when we were kids!! xx
As much as I adore Mavis’ site, I have to say I’m thoroughly pleased to have found you. Ruby’s stories are such a cache of gems! I can’t wait to dig into the archives one sunny summer day on the deck. I am constantly wishing I could talk to mom and grandma about their stories. I shall have to content myself with Ruby’s tales instead! Carry on. 🙂
Thank-you so much Lyra!! I am pretty chuffed that a few of Mavis’s readers have come across to snoop on what I do!
I also wish I had done this with my Nanna. We do have lots of her stories etc, but… oh its never enough is it??
Glad you are enjoying Ruby’s stories! 🙂