mph,

44. Potato Digging Time

In the late 1940's and early 1950's the potato harvest in West Prince was still done manually. The farmers would hire pickers to help harvest before the heavy frost came. This was usually done the last two weeks of October. During this time the country schools would shut down for two weeks, as the older children, and some— times the teachers would also help dig, or help with other chores.

During the harvest, the farmer would drive the tractor up and down the fields of potatoes with a harrow (plowshare) secured behind the tractor. The harrow would uproot the potatoes and then the pickers would walk behind, picking the potatoes and putting them in wicker-like baskets*. The pickers would go up the drills (rows) until they had completely picked the potatoes in the entire drill, then start down the next row. The work conditions were usually cold, damp, and dusty. The pickers would be bent over most of the day, picking the potatoes out of the cold ground. Usually they would pick from dawn to dusk. The work was tedious and long.

When Dennis was approximately two years old, Margurita was hired to pick potatoes. Edna was almost thirteen years old at the time, and Margurita had left her in charge of the younger children, until the evening when Alphy would be done working in the workshop. Margurita had instructed Edna on the basic care of the children, and what to prepare for meals. Alphy would be in the workshop in case of an emergency, and Margurita’s sister, Lorraine, would be coming by later in the day.

* The potato baskets were usually made by the Mi ’Kmaq people on Lennox Island. The baskets Were weaved from ash tree and ‘sweet grass’. In the spring and summer the Mi ’Kmaq people would come to the mainland to sell their ware before the potato harvest time in the

fall.

83