Many people have stated that thick porridge was a staple for breakfast. Brown sugar and cream were added. Trudy Hotston recalls eggs, steak and left-over potatoes were also eaten for breakfast. Toast was made using a variety of methods. Trudy Hotson remembers using a long handled fork which held the home-made bread over the coals or over a stove. Vi Stansfield remembers using a contraption that had two handles that when pried apart exposed a rack with two wires where one placed up to four pieces of bread. One then closed the device and placed it over a stove where the bread was toasted. One would have to rotate the device so that the bread was browned on both sides.
Suppers consisted of solid meals with meat, potatoes and vegetables. Dessert was often jars of fruit. Helen Van Patter and Vi Stansfield have both mentioned that blueberries, rhubarb, saskatoons and raspberries were canned during the summer months and used as fruit for the winter months. Vis family canned 200-250 quarts of berries every year. Carrots were stored in the root cellar and stayed fresh until Christmas time. Every fall apples arrived in large wooden barrels from southern Ontario. One ate the apples raw or made apple sauce and apple pie.
In terms of chores around the house and farm, Trudy Hotson recalls that there was womans work and mens work. Mens work required more strength and comfort around animals, whereas womens work required more sensitivity and the ability to do more than one task at a time. Furthermore Trudy has recorded that it was the responsibility of the women to create a comfortable pleasant home life with whatever was available.
During the 1930s and the 1940s there were no vacuum cleaners. One used a broom and mop. To clean the house bars of laundry soap were used. Two popular brands at the time were Fels Naphtha and Comfort. These soap bars were hard and contained a lot of lye. Many seniors including Milly Lappage, Helen Van Patter and Vi Stansfield have recalled that often one had to use a lot of elbow grease to remove common household stains.
Typical chores around the house were similar to today; washing dishes, baby sitting and scrubbing the floors. A particular task of the day was emptying the chamber pots ( pee pots). On the farm adolescents had specific chores. As discussed, keeping the wood boxes filled was important. There were two wood boxes, one for the heater and one for the wood stove. Usually the boys cut and split the wood. Vi Stansfields responsibility was to the pile the wood correctly so that the pile would not fall down once the job was completed. Another chore that Vi recalls was pumping water in the trough to water the animals. One had to know how much water to pump into the trough. If one pumped too much water, it froze and eventually the trough became filled with ice. Feeding the animals, collecting eggs from chickens, and removing weeds from the garden were chores that had to be done. Vi added that one was always kept busy and was never bored.
The irons at the time were called flat irons or sad irons. There were two possible reasons that Vi believes irons were called as such. One possibility was that the irons were shaped like a human tear, and the second possibility was that ironing in itself was a really sad thing that one had to do. There were three irons of different sizes to a set. Each iron was heated on a wood stove. One attached a handle to the iron to control the iron while pressing the clothes. Since each iron stayed hot enough for only a few minutes, one was continually rotating the use of the three irons.
Eventually naptha gas irons were in use. After filling the iron wicket with liquid gas, there was a handheld pump that one pumped air to the inside of the iron which caused it to burn very hot.