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NEFA
1994.007.01 Transcription
P: William McKinnon
T: Farming today
S: WM
would not know what the machines are for on a farm today. They grew
oats, hay, neeps. They would have to buy in grass seed, manure and
lime, but they could not afford to buy much. They just had enough
milk for themselves. [Jean McKinnon comes in.]
NEFA
1994.007.02 Transcription
P: William McKinnon
T: Food and milling
S: They
would have bought the eggs in and sold sheep to raise cash for manure.
They did not eat much beef or mutton. Cows were kept till they were
three, or so, then sold on. The oats were harvested with the binder
and the mill would come round. Latterly they had a thrashin mill
of their own. The grain was ground at the local mill; you would
get meal, dust and sids for the hens. Some millers kept part of
the yield, others sent a bill.
NEFA
1994.007.03 Transcription
P: William McKinnon and Jean McKinnon
T: Jean's work
S: JM's
father worked on a farm. Jean worked for the estate. WM not too
keen on the chalets they are planning to build at Aden Country Park.
Jean used to work for the factor's office, at Crichie. Her wages
book is still at Aden. There were written contracts for the farm
workers in the book, going back to the twenties. There was only
work for one on South Reidbog.
NEFA
1994.007.04 Transcription
P: William McKinnon
T: Memories of Jean Mathew
S: WM
still cannot remember the tune for 'Newton's Hash'. His brother's
song book was made later, but the song, by his sister, Jean Mathew,
was made during the war. WM's brother got his songs from his sister.
NEFA
1994.007.05 Transcription
P: William McKinnon
T: Siblings kept songbooks
S: [Goes
through siblings' song books.] There are some Irish songs in them.
Several song titles mentioned.
NEFA
1994.007.06 Transcription
P: William McKinnon
T: Strathardle
FL: In a far foreign land I am prowlin
NEFA
1994.007.07 Transcription
P: William
McKinnon
T: Song notebooks
S: The
notebooks contain a wide range of songs.
NEFA
1994.007.08 Transcription
P: William
McKinnon
T: Houses and peat cutting
S: Their
house, in his youth, had an open fire, no range, and a bink which
held a big pot and a kettle. They had two sweys. The peat was won
from the top side of their arable ground. There are two ways of
cutting peat: downwards, or from the front (breistin) with a peat
spade. The first turf was taken off and lain below the face as a
surface to stand on. At the end of the war, the coal merchants sold
peats as there was a shortage. They dealt with about 15,000 barrowloads
of peat (twelve peats per barrow). WM did not wheel the barrow so
much, because they could get three barrow loads on a sledge. The
peats were five by six by twelve inches when freshly cut. They would
shrink about fifty percent when stacked to dry. They were tipped
from the barrow until they dried enough to handle, then they were
stacked in rickles of about twenty to dry completely. Then they
were taken out in a cart. When the coal men bought them, they would
drive the lorry in over the sod. The lorry could not stop, or it
would have sunk in.
NEFA
1994.007.09 Transcription
P: William
McKinnon
T: More on peat cutting
S: They
would keep their own supply at the house, in a stack about eight
feet high, by ten, by sixty feet, or more. WM's mother carried that
in by bucket. Cutting was done around April and the peat ready in
in September. 3000 peats would take around eight hours. 1000 barrowfuls
in eight hours, but you could not do that the first day. [End of
Side A.]
NEFA
1994.007.10 Transcription
P: William
McKinnon and Jean McKinnon
T: Farm diaries
S: Jean
has twenty five years of WM's father's farm diaries. He made an
entry every day, starting with the weather. Jean mentions entry
about driving peats for sale in Longside. It became too expensive
to keep the horse shod for this to be profitable. The smith would
not come round, you had to take the horses to them. An estate would
have had a smiddy, but he also took in outside work. There was one
at Clola. Jean reads entry from diary. The diary has settled many's
an argument over the years.
NEFA
1994.007.11 Transcription
P: William
McKinnon
T: Father's farming life
S: WM's
father was a farmer most of his life, though he drove on steam engines
with Jimmy Sutherland, Peterhead. He was brought up at Cruden, but
was fee'd at farms around Ellon. He could have taken over the Yetts
thrashin mill in Mintlaw, but he opted for farming. They had coal
on the farm only for the steam engine of the mill. They would neeper,
helping out one another as required during milling. A woman cut
the sheaves atop the mill. The band was usually cut with a sharp
knife, sometimes one that was strapped to the hand. One man fed
in the stuff, the other oiled the bits. There were two lowsers feeding
the man who would spread the sheaves out as they went in. Thrashin
the whole crop took about a day and a half at most. When WM was
very young, they got a barn mill.
NEFA
1994.007.12 Transcription
P: William
McKinnon
T: Tying sheaves
S: Tying
bands for the sheaves was an art form, but the binder did that with
twine. You would have to redd the roads, clear an edge strip round
the field, for the binder. A handful of straw was twisted, wrapped
around the sheaf, then tucked in around the sheaf. Jean's uncle
from London could not tie the bands and had to use twine.
NEFA
1994.007.13 Transcription
P: William
McKinnon
T: Tying knots
S: They
used to tie knots without thinking how they did it. The long-laced
kilt shoes are not easy to tie. They were at a wedding once at which
one of the men put on his kilt entirely wrong.
NEFA
1994.007.14 Transcription
P: William McKinnon
T: Song notebooks (more)
S: [Looking
through the song notebooks again.] Months after WM's sister had
died, Jean heard his sister's voice on a television quiz show. "The
Dowie Dens o Yarrow" is a lovely song. [WM hums the tune.]
NEFA
1994.007.15 Transcription
P: William McKinnon
T: The Dowie Dens o Yarrow
FL: There lived a lady in the South
S:
NEFA
1994.007.16 Transcription
P: William McKinnon
T: The
Dowie Dens o Yarrow (cont.)
S: [Stops
singing to say that part does not make sense. Continues singing.]
He would need to rehearse it before recording it properly.
NEFA
1994.007.17 Transcription
P: William McKinnon
T: Scarborough's Banks
FL: On Scarborough's banks a young damsel did dwell
S: [Looking through the song notebooks again.] Sings a verse
or two.
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