I took a lot of shots of an old piece of farming in Iowa history. The crate shows its wear and tear visually. A patch with a piece of metal holds the crack together for a few more years.
Eggs were placed in cardboard partitions and layered in stacks of five or more. Parts of the lid shines from the continue rubbing on human hands and arms from loading and unloading eggs.
Hooks from metal were used to fasten the lid to the box. When things wear out, make-shift wire makes a great substitute or safety latch.
My grandmother remarried in the early 1940s and her husband did not give her spending money. The egg money was her way for her to buy cloth for dresses to sew. It was her spending money that she stretched from week to week. Milk from the cows and the eggs from the chickens were two ways that farmers who were so poor, could keep food on the table. I have a strong memory of seeing a woman candling eggs on Saturday night as she could be seen through the store window. She would sort them and check for cracked eggs as she packed them in boxes to ship on to the next buyer.
1 comment:
I enjoyed reading here about the egg crates. I have never seen one and enjoyed reading about them.
My grandmother's spending money came from the eggs she sold also. I remember going to the chicken coop with her to gather the eggs.
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