Grandma's Kitchen

Linn and Ethel Sheckler's
KITCHEN PAGE

The hutchs' shown here are just like
their's except they had a WHITE one,
This is about the color of their kitchen.
The dispenser at the left was a flour
bin with a sifter built in. There is a
sliding door to close in the items shown.
The photo below displays other items
that were stored in the cabinet (hutch).

See Ice Box below

Grand Ma Sheckler
spent a lot of time in her kitchen.
The items I remember most being baked were pies.
... On the stove she did a lot of frying in her big black skillet. That would be chicken and steak. One source for the steak was buying beef on the hoof, having somebody butcher it, Grandpa would cut it up, wrap it and take it to the freezer in town where they had a locker rented. I went with him to the stock farm one time and saw a beef cow shot with a 22 rifle. There was one problem at this butchering, gramps got looped too. Boy was Grandma mad. Another item she made a lot of was corn fritters and I still make them myself. She deep fried them but I make them like pancakes, with lots of onion.

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Linn and Ethel Sheckler's
ICE BOX
as it looked when they 1st moved into their new home in 1938.
LaVerne remembers when the Iceman came. His truck was a stake truck with canvas over it. He took his ice pick and chopped of the chunk of ice sized to fit in this icebox, put in in a canvas bag and slung it onto his back.
He then hiked up the 11 steps and stepped into Grandma's back porch.
He could use ice tongs but that would have dripped water onto the floor.
A daily chore was to empty the drip tray located under the icebox.

From the Leelanau Enterprise

Before electricity and refrigerators kept food cool and safe, men toiled long hours "harvesting" ice form lakes and rivers in the winter to use during warmer months. Most harvested ice in January, February and early March. The work was done with tools found on any farm. Small operations used a saw, ax, ice tongs and a few men. An average block was 24 inches long and wide, about 12 inches thick and weighed between 125 and 175 lb. Workers would take the blocks to a specially designed "ice House" where they would be stacked on top of insulating sawdust. Sawdust would be packed around the sides and on top of the ice pile before the ice houses were sealed shut. These buildings had well ventilated eaves. Many had the sheathing or walls on the inside so that they wouldn't "pop" off from the pressure of the ice and sawdust packed inside.

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