The Last Weekend of February, 2010

Hello Again!

The mailman was generous this week. He brought me three packs of books from Daniel Baranick in Minot. One book was titled the


Years of Despair, North Dakota in the DepressionPrepared by Dr. Jerome Tweton and Daniel Rylance, both well known historians in North Dakota. The book was written about the 1930’s and published in 1973. I am reminded of Dr. MacCullen’s admonition, you need to know the past to understand the present and plan the future.

I was a preschooler at the time of the drought and depression. Mother had a garden alongside the Green River and we used the river to water the garden. As we carried our little buckets and with small rusty cans dipped some water and carefully watered the cabbage, potatoes, cucumbers. I would think how happy the plants were to get this drink of water. Using the water sparingly was the beginning of my conservativeness which has carried over to adulthood.

This book is filled with graphs comparing the income from crops in1924 which was 225million dollars to a drop of 25 million in 1931. In 1933, the government sent out grant checks for $20.00 The gov’t also offered seed loans and the farmers survived another year. Then the government organized the WPA and Dad went to haul scoria on the road to Ukraina. Sister Mary went to the neighbors where the government held classes teaching farm girls to sew. Farm boys were offered work in the Civilian Conservation Corp. They were offered $25. – 20 dollars were sent home to help the family and the young men received $5.But the boys also got a forest greenuniform to wear. Local boys serving in the CCC camp were Stanley Kordonowy, Nick Barabash, Nick Symionow.Aren’t these the kinds of programs that people tell our present government to do.

Dr. Halich arrived on the scene during the 30’s to research material for his doctorate. He wrote articles that were published in a national Ukrainian newspaper titled Ukrainian Villages in North Dakota. In my collection of research material, I found his story on Wilton. He told about the prosperity in Wilton with coal mining. He pointed out that while the coal mines were in operation, the miners earned $120. Every two weeks. In Wilton, Mr. Pete Bodner build the most beautiful house in the town of Wilton. Another objective of the miners was a good education for the children and young people. In 1933, three Ukrainians were teachers, many were stenographers and even one was elected to the School Board. Dr. Halich inserted an interesting story about a Swedish boy named Green who spoke Ukrainian. The boy was a total orphan. A Ukrainian family, Mr. Mrs. Zazulia Chubej took him into their home and raised him with their children. Mrs. Chubej insisted that the boy who ate Ukrainian bread and lives in a Ukrainian house, must speak Ukrainian. Renamed Hrytsko, Dr. Halich writes that age 17, Hrytsko spoke Ukrainian. He was a Swedish American Ukrainian.



While visiting the Ukrainians in wilton, Dr. Halich noted that very few read Ukrainian newspapers or had books in their homes. He admonished the people that they spent money for horilka rather than reading material.

On a lighter note, we all know that Ukrainians like mushrooms. Traveling one Sunday afternoon, after a rain, we saw several gentlemen with big paper sacks walking the pasture picking mushrooms. That is also what we as kids, would do after the rain. Sometimes we’d find only a couple of meadow mushrooms but that was enough to flavor the soup with a milk base.

Son Bill has been telling me about the wonderful stuffed mushrooms Mary Armbrust makes. I hinted around to Bill that he should ask Mary for her recipe, but to no avail.I searched my recipe books and found one recipe which called for sautéed stems in butter with onions. I read the recipe many times and made the stuffed mushrooms. They weren’t the kind Mary makes. So I finally called Mary. Tonight we are having stuffed mush rooms Mary Armbrust style. If you want the recipe, call Mary.

Rosemary Demaniow

Rosemary Demaniow left many mementos to tell the world she was here on this earth. They will be with us for many years.


UCI sponsored a show of Rosie’s paintings – enough art o fill a gallery. There was apples and crocks, so realistic were they painted ,one wanted to pick up an apples and take a bite. Her love for cats was the painting she called Aspiration. One had to have memories from the time we used a cream separator to get our cream. Her painting showed a cat trying to catch a taste of the cream as the separator did the separation. Then there were the cats on a ladder, their coats slick from their own cleansing. Country living was shown in the tools of the trade and in the portrait of Johnny Phill and much more. Perhaps the artistic gift was a gift from God, but Rosemary developed it. Her paintings received awards at many fall Art shows.

Rosemary learned to cross stitich on her own and embroidered a blouse to wear at the Smithsonian Festival we were featured in Washington, DC in 1975. It was an enjoyable week sight seeing in DC. And I’m sure you can imagine the excitement it generated in Rosemary as historic reality replaced imagination. We sang, the young folks danced, we made pyrohy/varenyky and we visited with hundred of people viewing the Festival. Fr. Bobersky taught us a challenging program of songs – Taras Shevchenko’s Dumy moi – My thoughts, Chervona Kalyna – the red cranberry, He pora – It is no longer time to serve the conquerors and the fun song, Oj pid haem, haem. With Rosemary in the alto section, we sang at Festivals, at UCI productions. Who could forget Marusia’s Ukrainian Wedding debuted at the centennial celebration of the University of ND in Grand Forks and followed a presentation in Medora, St. Demetrius Church grounds and Dickinson’s Chatauqua.

Besides her artistic talents, there was Rosemary’s curiosity, her wanting to learn and learn she did – languages, the music, writing compositions and arrangements. She met the challenges of the creative world, and the world is richer for Rosemary was here.

1946-2010

                                                                        

2 Recent Topics from The Radio Program

The Magnificent Coal


Today we offer you a page about coal. We will travel to Wilton and Snow, ND to reminisce about coal and coal mining at the turn of the century.

Matt Sawicki arrived in this country in 1913 as a penniless immigrant. “Believe in God and God will help” he prayed.

Arriving from Ukraine, the immigrants were first taken to Mannhaven, north of Bismarck.They were not impressed with Mannhaven, and moved to Wilton to work on the railroad and to file on homesteads.

Wilton had a bonus for the new homesteaders – coal. Coal to heat their homes. Coal to cook their meals. Wait – there is one more benefit – coal mining offered a salary. Mrs. Anna Solodiuk whose husband worked in the mines 18 years said, We were not as poor as the Ukrainian homesteaders in Belfield- the Wilton men worked for a salary in the coal mines.

To learn about coal mining in Belfield and Billings County, we went to Hawks Point to talk to Nick Symionow, the son of homesteader, Andrew Symionow. Andrew homesteaded in Sec. 8 – SE1/4 in 143-98 in what was known as Snow North Dakota. Nick recalled that right after harvest, farmers harvested coal. Imagine if they hadn’t uncovered coal, what would they burn to create heat for cooking and baking and heat to warm up the house. In Ukraine, trees and brush were plentiful and they scrounged in tree lots for wood fuel. It was plentiful.

According to Nick, coal was plentiful on North Dakota prairie. It was almost on the surface. Using a scrapper, they removed whatever soil covered the coal. If the coal vein was solid, they dynamited the coal by drilling holes in the coal and inserting dynamite. After everyone was a distance away, they lit the fuse. The explosion produced a lot of coal in sizes 2 ft by 1 foot or bigger. These blocks of coal were then loaded on to the wagon, sometimes in 2 or three layers. At sunset or later, the wagons formed a procession and began the trek home. Hungry, their faces covered with coal dust, these miners were welcomed home by the children. They helped Dad unhitch the horses, watered them, led them into the barn and tied them to a manger filled with hay. With plenty of hot water heated on the coal-burning stove, the miner washed the coal dust off his face and hands and proceeded to the supper table. That night as he knelt to say his prayer, he thanked God for his goodness.

The Cat – Veselka


Today we will talk about the habits of cats and about one certain cat.

The cat is a friend to children and adults. According to one cat writer, cats are the smartest of all tame animals. They make faithful friendly companions.

Cats also help man. They kill rats and mice and they can be trained to leave birds alone. Some of the cats’ peculiar characteristics are their eyes. They see better in dim light than a person can. Cats have a keen smell and hearing. They purr when they are happy and hiss or growl when angry. Cats usually arch their backs when they meet an enemy or are frightened. When their fur stands on end and their tail puffs are symbols of anger.

Cats are clever hunters.They can creep up on an enemy swiftly and quietly on thick padded paws. They can also wait patiently for an unsuspecting animal to come closer and they can spring upon it. Their claws also allow them to climb trees to search for food.

Cats live happily either in the city or country. However, no matter where they live

They need someone to care for them. They need a place to live.

Most cats do not like a bath but they are among the cleanest of animals. At least once a day, the cat licks a paw and washes his face and head with a wet paw.

Cats eat many kinds of food – chopped liver, heart, kidneys. Most cats like milk and cream. They need fresh water and a place to exercise their claws. A piece of wood wrapped in soft carpet makes a good scratching post. The cats’ eyes are blue, hazel, brown, green even orange. The iris, the colored part of the eye is wide during the night and just a slit during the day.

Cats have always been part of our lives. They generally live outdoors or in the barn. While children, we had a huge domestic short hair cat. He liked to spend time outdoors sitting on the windowsill and looking indoors. That was the window which did not receive a storm window in winter. I remember when he died. We kids, conducted the funeral, dug the grave, made a cross to mark the grave. I think we sang vichaya pamiat – eternal memory. That could be the reason we remember him.

At the ranch, we used to cat sit Fr. Bobersky’s cat when he went out of town. I can’t remember the cat’s name. I remember she liked to sharpen her claws by scratching on the couch causing snags. But that was o.k. She was Father’s cat, his pet. She did whatever she wanted,

Out of the clear blue sky, a cat appeared at the cabin on the Gorham farm this past summer. That’s what Bill says. The cat is kind of a miracle cat. He appeared at the end of a rainbow – gold in color with white paws. The date of his coming to the cabin was May 8th, the fifth anniversary of Bev’s departure. Is he a gift from Beverly?

This cat really does not have a proper name. I’ve heard him called kitka but that’s a feminine name. The masculine for Cat is Kit – somehow that name doesn’t flow. The way this cat arrived at the farm where Beverly spent the first 10 years of her life is a miracle. Perhaps “rainbow” or the Ukrainian translation “veselka” is apppriate for this resident. Give us some more hints, Bev.