100 Years (1884-1984)
Chapter 8
The Farm, Gardens and HerdsFood is the means God gives us to sustain life. In fact, some ancient sage has said that all the food in the world is the love of God made edible. It may be a gift from God but the production and preparation of food takes time and work. A look at the history of the gardens, farm and herds of Saint Labre adds interesting information and color to our portrait. The first Ursulines arrived at the mission in April and that summer and fall, they spent much of their time in the garden raising food for themselves and their pupils. In their letters they speak of being brown from the sun and of having the help of some of their friends from Miles City, particularly the Messers. Toner. After the harvest they had to can and dry their produce so they did not have much time to study the Cheyenne language. It did not take many years before students, both boys and girls were enlisted to help the Sisters and/or the hired help in the garden work, particularly at harvest time.
Once Fintan Schaub arrived on the scene in 1932, the gardens both the flower and vegetable varieties, became ultra productive. He has been called "the amazing farmer of Saint Labre." Fintan was one of the most colorful volunteers ever to come to Saint Labre. Born and raised in Mt. Calvary, Wisconsin, he new the Capuchin Fathers and Brothers from childhood. In fact, even before he was big enough to carry the missal from one side of the altar to the other, he was serving Mass for the Capuchin priests. Fintan never married and he went into the plumbing and roofing business in Mt. Calvary. When he was critically injured in an automobile accident, he prayed for healing and promised that if he recovered, he would give the rest of his life to serving the Capuchins. He recovered, sold his share of the business and then proceeded to keep his part of the bargain. After spending two summers at Saint Labre he came permanently on October 4, 1932, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, the Capuchins' patron saint. Fintan brought with him many skills, many interests and hobbies and a beautiful, gentle personality.
Being Swiss, Fintan had a gift for singing and yodeling. He was also a camera enthusiast and took many picture of scenes and people around the mission. He also got himself a movie camera and when Paramount Pictures of Hollywood came to a spot nine miles south of Ashland to film scenes for "The Plainsman." Fintan took movies of the making of the movie. About 162 actors and crewmen and women came from Hollywood but the film called for about 300 Indians and 100 Whites for the battle scenes. Some of the older people of the parish recall that the extras, all local talent, went on strike for more pay and got it: the daily wage was raised from $.50 to $.75. Fintan was by nature very generous and very cheerful. There are even hints of miracles in his life. When the country was experiencing draught in the mid-thirties, Fintan took the barrel of water he used for his garden and placed it in front of the grotto. He invited everyone and anyone to take water. Everyone did, and mysteriously, the barrel never ran out and never needed to be refilled.
Fintan left Saint Labre for a period to serve the Capuchins in other places but he returned in 1954 and remained until his death in 1966. When Fintan arrived in 1932 the Saint Labre farm had been in operation for years. A root cellar had been built in 1928 and a few years later the barn and silo were put up. Chickens had been raised since the '20's but Fintan kept careful count of the eggs produced after he came. He reported 12,880 eggs for 1933 and in 1938 the number was up to 23,871. Just five years later the hens laid a total of 35,242 eggs. Turkeys were raised at Saint Labre for quite a few years and in early November they were rounded up and some of their lives were sacrificed for the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. In 1943, 60 were rounded up but there should have been 90, the chronicle says. The culprits were usually coyotes or dogs. Skunks also enjoyed turkey eggs.
The Mission kept both dairy and beef herds and supplied all of the milk and much of the meat for the mission until the herds were sold in 1955. In 1937, 1,058 quarts of beef were canned and stored. Some venison and other game was given to the mission each year by game wardens and rangers. It was not until the 1950's that the mission procured a deep freeze. Before that in January or February the men cut blocks of ice out of the frozen Tongue River and placed them in the ice house covered with straw. This provided refrigeration for the whole summer. The farm was able to produce hay and oats to feed the cattle and horses and enough wheat so that the mission bakery could furnish all the bread needed. The wheat was taken to Sheridan to be milled and a May, 1943 entry in the Day Book reports that Brother Berthold took a load of wheat, the last of the '42 crop to Sheridan and returned with enough flour for three or four months. The gardens, farms and herds of Saint Labre were so diversified and productive that during the 30's and 40's the only necessities not produced at the mission were soap and salt, according to Brother Gaul's recollections.
The list of vegetable produced in the garden is full of variety: Mangel beets, squash, cucumbers, pumpkins, celery cabbage, white cabbage, red cabbage, cauliflower, red beets, carrots, kohl-rabi, peppers, tomatoes, white onions, red onions, sweet corn, beans, honeydew melon, muskmelons, watermelons, rutabaga. The amounts are in the hundreds of bushels and thousands of the melons. In addition, in the year 1941, the chronicle records there were plenty of radishes, lettuce, parsley, celery, rhubarb, leeks and so on. "And the garden provided flowers for the altars for about 5 months." All of this produce had to be preserved and stored which entailed much work. August, September and October were months when peaches, pears and apples were bought and had to be canned immediately. In September 1936, the Day-Book notes "2,000 quarts of peaches and pears and many gallons of jam and jellies put up by the Sisters and the girls. 6 tons of apples were purchased and 50 bags of windfalls immediately canned."
An irrigation system was devised by Brother Gaul in the '30's but even with irrigation some years the potato crop was not good. The students helped harvest the potatoes, earning $.02 for the first bag and $.01 each for the rest. Fintan won many awards for his huge and well-formed vegetables at the County Fairs in Forsyth. One year he received 32 awards: 16 firsts, 8 seconds and 8 thirds as well as a total of $57.00. Pictures of his flowers and vegetables were used in the state seed catalogs. Besides the drought which afflicted most of the United States in the mid-thirties, there were also plagues of crickets in 1936 and 1937. They were called "Mormon" crickets and they chewed up not only gardens but even the fence posts. Those years, Fintan rigged up pieces of tin around his garden strung on electric wires. When the crickets landed they were electrocuted and their companions learned to avoid Fintan's garden. In 1955 when the government milk program began, it was cheaper to buy milk than to raise herds and produce the milk at the mission so the herds were sold and the farm discontinued. By then Fintan's eyesight was failing so he spent much of his time at indoor work in the bakery and washing the pots and pans in the kitchen. It was the end of an era in the history of the mission and even though much hard work was involved some still think of those as "good old days." |
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