Life on a Rocky Farm couples Lucas C. Barger's (1866–1939) eye for detail with a folksy, anecdotal style to give us a remarkable and memorable depiction of both the traditional ways of farm life, and the challenges the farmers faced as the times changed. Previously unpublished, Barger's first-hand account of farm life near New York City begins in the late nineteenth century. Little had changed for well over a century in the hilly and rugged terrain of Putnam Valley, where Lucas grew up as a member of the sixth generation of Barger farmers. But as the nineteenth century gave way to the twentieth, industrialization and mechanization decreased the demand for farm labor and farmers had to come up with alternate ways to make money.

For a long time, supplemental income came from varied means such as beekeeping and using the local forest resources to provide railroad ties, ship timber, and barrel hoops. Wealthy summer boarders from New York City also provided some extra income, but despite the short distance, transportation remained arduous, and population growth did not occur until high improvements were made in the 1930s.

Peter A. Rogerson's transcription reflects the flavor of Barger's original writing, as Barger himself said when he was first attempting to publish back in 1939, "I read something along back, that a publisher wrote, and he said, 'Do not change your style.' He claimed the style was sometimes the best part. And I guess that is what you are getting at. If you can call my scribbling a style, and you think it'odd' use it any way you like. For my main intentions were to write anodd book as I told you once before."

Foreword by the Author
Preface
Acknowledgments
Editor’s Introduction
Sources

1. Introduction

People of Putnam Valley
Exodus of Youth as a Cause of Abandoned Farms
Successful Farmer on Smooth Farm in Rocky Country

2.What Grandpop Said

3. Handcrafts—Ways of Making Money

Ship Timber
Cordwood
Railroad Ties
Tanbark
Handles
The Axe
Baskets
Hoop Poles
Charcoal
The Squaw Man

4. Incomes Directly from Nature

Furs
Nuts
Roots and Herbs
Bees
Honey from Bees
Sheep
Turkeys
Chickens
Fruits and Vegetables
Vinegar
Dried Apples
Maple Syrup
Other Income—Summer Boarders

5. Life of the Rocky Farm Women

Griddlecakes, etc.
Foods
Women Fishing
Making Bread
Wife Instructs Husband Variously
Picking Geese
Women’s Work—Flax
Woolen Goods
Women—Smoking
Knitting
Knitting Sheath (“Shathe”)
Dress Fashions (Men’s and Women’s)
Dyeing—Children’s Work, etc.
Making Soap
Lighting Facilities
Matches and Fire
House Cat

6. Life of the Rocky Farm Men

Planting
Sowing Grain
Swamps and Marshes—Cranberries, Blueberries, Garden Truck
Poison Sumac and Poison Ivy
Farmer’s Breakfast
Comparison of Western and Eastern Farming

7. Sports and Animals

Hunting
Fish—Eels
Game—Quails
Game—Pigeon
Game—Squirrels and Rabbits
Game—Partridge
Game—Woodchuck
Game—Skunk
Snakes
Various Animals

8. Country Store and Election

Country Store
Election

9. Education, Religion, and War

The Red Schoolhouse
Religion and War

10. Frolics

Frolics (Bees)
The Buckwheat Frolic
Corn-Husking Frolic

11. The County Fair

12. Social Life

Church Socials
Weddings
Dance, Music
Valentines

Appendix I. Country Dialect
Appendix II. The Visit
Appendix III. The Quilting Frolic