Life on the Sprick family farm, circa 1930s

Uncle Joe is an exceptional essayist, although in keeping with his modest Sprick nature, he would dismiss and deny that. But we (your scrapblog editor, that is, a bona-fide, big-time professional editor, or at least she likes to think so) know better. And so we will, over time, print what we deem to be his finest essays (otherwise available only in the self-published books he keeps for his lucky grandkids), as we have time to type them in. Decades from now, when we're all long gone into the next world, we expect that Sprick descendants will be Googling these pieces for school papers and family histories and saying to themselves, "Wow, that old fella was wise indeed." Joe wrote this one a few years back.


THE FARM

By ELMER "JOE" SPRICK

As a forester, I might describe that piece of land in southeastern Minnesota as the E 1/2, W 1/2, SE 1/2 of Section 22 and the NENW, NWNE of Section 27, all in Township North Range West of Wabasha County.

But to me and the other children of Claus Sprick and Maria Augustine Sprick, it was home, a 240-acre farm in West Albany Township about 10 miles south of Lake City, off Wabasha County Road 4. It was home to me the first 14 years of my life.

I was born on Aug. 22, 1927, during threshing season. A midwife neighbor, Mrs. Sass, delivered me, the 11th child in a family of 12 children.

What was it like growing up during the Great Depression in a family of 12 children? It was great for me, because I was at the age where I was spared many of the hardships that faced my older brothers and sisters.

There was always enough food to eat. It was good food -- home-smoked ham, bacon, sausages and freshly butchered meat. Quite often on a Saturday, I held a big rooster over the chopping block for my dad [Claus Sprick] while he cut off its head with an axe. We often had a rooster for Sunday dinner. We also had homemade bread and fresh vegetables from our farm garden, and homemade ice cream on July 4 and Christmas.

My older sisters looked out for me at the one-room country school we attended. By the time I reached eighth grade, my youngest sister, Kate [Catherine Sprick Kirkwood] and I were often the only ones in school besides the teacher. We received a lot of attention. Our teacher even taught us how to drive her car, a model A Ford, when I was in the eighth grade.

My favorite thing to do was to ride our bronco mare out to the south 80 of our farm. The land there was mostly wooded, with steep bluffs and ravines that ran down into Hungry Hollow. The Zumbro River ran through Hungry Hollow, as did a railroad track with whistle stops at Lakey, Keegan and Suttons. The railroad and whistle stops disappeared in the 1930s, but the Zumbro keeps rolling, producing some excellent fishing and interesting canoeing.

Without really understanding why, even then, I loved the woods and the Zumbro River bottoms. In retrospect, I realize that it may have been the peaceful escape they provided from milking cows, feeding calves, filling the woodbox, slpping hogs and hoeing thistles.

I earned my first money trapping gophers and woodchucks. One had to cut off all four feet of a trapped animal and tack them to a board. In the fall, we took the board with its feet to a township official who paid bounty money for them. I made my first $5 as a bounty hunter and trapper and opened a savings account with it. As far as I know, that $5 is still in my savings account today.

My world was pretty small. I often got to church on Sundays with my parents. The service was usually conducted in German. About once a year, I went to the dentist and the shoe store, usually before school started in the fall. During the summer, I went barefoot.

By the time I was in eighth grade, I had never been more than 35 miles from home, had seen only three movies and one carnival. But I had been at a lot of family gatherings where there was lots of good food.

The year I turned 14 marked a turning point. I might well have spent the rest of my life on that farm had my dad not decided to sell it and move to town [Lake City, Minn.]. His decision provided me with an opportunity to go to high school and eventually college.

Not only was I a lucky boy, but I became a very lucky man, husband and grandfather. I am especially thankful for my 11 siblings, a good wife, two children and five beautiful grandchildren.