As we saw in earlier posts (here and here), Aunts Sara and Maria enjoyed growing rye on at least one occasion. Of course, growing a grain such as rye is never the end of the matter. One must also cut it (and generally bind it into sheaves), then thresh it and grind the grain into flour. Then, and only then, can one do something useful with the crop.
Sara and Maria knew this as well as anyone, and apparently they also knew how to improvise, as seen in the photograph below.
Looking close up, we see that Sara is holding what appears to be a coffee grinder between her knees. A note included with the photo indicates that she is grinding (or milling) rye. On a TV tray to her right is a pan that presumably holds the rye kernels and two jars: the jar in front looks to be full of flour; the one behind is empty.
Thanks to this picture (and thanks to Carolyn Stucky, who sent it), we now know that Sara and Maria did indeed put their rye crop to good use. It also evokes a fond memory of Grandma’s dark—it had to be rye, right?—bread. Grandpa and Grandma were living in Lushton, as was our family, so it must have been when I was three or four. (We moved to the McCool farm when I turned five.)
We arrived at their house about breakfast time, and I distinctly remember Grandma making Grandpa’s orange juice using one of those round glass juicers. There was homemade dark bread and a dish of butter on the table just begging to be enjoyed. I do not recall much more, just that moment of wholesome food at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. If anyone has pictures of that house (here) when they lived there, I would love to see them.
But for the moment we turn back to the photograph of Sara grinding the rye—this time the full version.
Note first that the photo is dates September 1969. That was a year after the first set of photographs that we viewed, which may imply that the sisters’ rye cultivation was not a one-time affair. It may well be that they grew rye on several occasions.
The other thing worth noticing is where Sara is sitting: in a lawn in front of or at the side of a house. At this time, Sara and Maria lived in Upland, California, specifically at 1147 East 9th Street. According to Spokeo (here), that house, which had been built in 1949, had two bedrooms and one bath, with a total area of 1,101 square feet. Note also the garage with driveway to Sara’s right.
Comparing the 1960s photos with the present day does help us make better sense of the former. For example, earlier we noticed a block wall behind Maria and their patch of rye (left side of the photo). When we look at the house today, we see that the wall is still there and is the west border of the property.
Looking at the house from its southwest corner (below), we see a garage in the background; this is presumably the same garage that is behind Sara in the photograph of her grinding rye.
Looking down onto the property helps us understand the photographs even better. The house itself sits on the north side of 9th street. Although it is not evident in the photograph of Sara, the garage is detached from the house. The grassy area where Sara was sitting seems to have been paved over (or left as bare dirt).
The lot itself is large, extending as it does to the back wall. According to Google Maps, the lot is roughly 140 feet long and 55 feet wide. Only about half of the property appears to be taken up with the house and garage, which left a substantial area for the sisters’s gardening activities.
Two houses immediately to the east of 1147 East 9th were built prior to it, so it is not surprising that one of them (1177 East 9th) can be seen in an earlier photo of Maria (see here).
The biggest change to the area, it seems, was the construction of the Upland Market and its parking lot immediately to the west of the Buller house (note the edge of the building on the left side of the photo). There is no sign of the market in any of the photographs from the 1960s; in fact, there appears to have been a number of trees where the market and parking lot is now located. The quiet privacy that one imagines the sisters enjoyed is probably no more. Although all else seemingly remains pretty much the same, the big change to the west no doubt altered the livability of the place substantially.
I admit that we have wandered far from where we began: with a simple photo of Sara grinding rye. My only explanation is that sometimes the journey itself—from Upland in 1969 to Lushton in the early 1960s and back to Upland first in 1968 and then today—is more enjoyable and enlightening than actually arriving at one’s destination. This is especially true when we are walking along with family members, retracing the journeys of their lives.
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