Tiger Company

New Ipswich Historical Society

Tiger Company

Charles Wheeler, Fred Chapin, Archer Proctor, Isham Aldrich, A. L. Howe, Clinton Maxwell, William Chandler, Herbert Chandler, Levi Newell, Fred Stacy, Lewis Nutting, Daniel Putnam, Alfred Woodward, Frank Mansfield, Edwin Blanchard, Guy Blanchard, John Parmenter

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BACK TO BASICS: BUYING MILK AND EGGS

Posted by Patti Kankaanpaa 9/12/2023 on Facebook

Another Memory from Linda J.D. Montague:

When I was growing up in New Ipswich [1950s and 60s], raw cow’s milk was readily available to local consumers.

For our family, it was purchased either at the Locke Road farm of Martin Somero—as he was our patient and kindly school bus driver—or the Kusti Luhtala farm at the pinnacle of Poor Farm Road, near the famous hair-pin turn.

The Luhtalas had many white-furred cats with blue eyes: I guess they were all Finns. Some of them were deaf, which congenitally can occur in such cats.

Some people are wary of raw milk but, when chilled, that fresh "just from the cow" taste has a most health-giving, wholesome quality.

Now listen, all you Finns. Was that horrid clabbered-type of milk dish ever made in your home and forced down your throat? It was somewhat akin to yogurt but, when I was young, not to my taste. Its basis was bovine colostrum, rich milk from a cow that recently had calved. The product was perhaps treated or not, then placed in a glass baking pan overnight at room temperature. In our home, this concoction was never heated in the oven although some folks do bake it. It just clabbered by itself on the kitchen counter.

I think maybe a magic spell was chanted over it to create the culinary masterpiece. A sturdy crust formed over the milk during the course of those hours. Once this crust was removed, the result was deemed edible. But only by the brave. My mother used to praise a perfect snack to accompany it of—yuck—pickled herring and rye bread. 

Now, do not get me wrong. I love Finnish rye bread: I should make some this autumn. But herring chunks floating in vinegar like a biological specimen with onions, sugar, and whole peppercorns? Not so much.

We always purchased our eggs at the Kuusisto farm on Poor Farm Road. If there was an immediate use, such as baking, Mom would buy a few of their "cracked" eggs, which were less costly. Otherwise, it was time for the customary trip to their egg room for shopping and socializing.

The egg room calendar, which decorated the back wall, featured a very attractive, bare-breasted young woman wearing a straw farmer’s-type hat. Until I wised up, this photograph had me perplexed. I wondered: Why did she not have any shirt on? The calendar had been published by a poultry-feed supplier. When I grew a little older—aha—I finally figured it out and understood the concept. Need I remind readers that the crowd who met there to buy eggs was mostly masculine?

Dad, when he was on strike from General Electric in Fitchburg, got a summer job painting the chicken coops at the egg farm.

James Roger diary entries

14th September 1912

Dull and cloudy; wind south. David teaming rocks for Barrett. I pulled some weeds in garden, picked chicken and got Church ready for Service. Got p.c. from Hamish and letter from Alice and letter from Hamish.