Breakfast at the farm

We are in 1940 
It is five thirty in the morning. The night is still deep but the day is already beginning for Eugenie. No time to stretch. Hard this morning though; the vigil around the fire had dragged on but the wool is finally ready for the spinning wheel.

Jean, her husband, has already gone out to see to the horses but before that he rekindled the fire with logs brought in the day before and drew water from the well. Fortunately, because Brr! it is still very cold in the big room. The children are still sleeping in the other room. She will go and wake them up a bit later.

The fire has started well and is crackling now. Its flames light up the room. Not enough, however, to do without the kerosene lamp lighting.

Eugenie pours water into the cauldron suspended above the hearth and sits on the edge of the fireplace to grind the coffee. She loves this moment. A private time where she can extend the night’s rest from the hustle and bustle of the day.

She pours a little chicory into the coffee maker, then her ground coffee.

The day before, while milking the cows, she had filled the milk jug with good fresh milk. That of the Marguerite. It’s her favorite cow.

The water is already boiling. Eugenie begins to pass the coffee. The room warms up and the smell of coffee spreads pleasantly.

She cuts large slices from the loaf of bread – these are the last – and takes the beautiful lump of yellow butter from the pantry. It’s all fresh from yesterday.

A good bowl of café au lait and two well-buttered toasts for each child; This breakfast will have to keep their stomachs until noon. She also prepares their snack, a slice of bacon on a slice of bread.

Everything is ready. Now is the time to wake them up. Jean will not be long now. They will share breakfast and then each one will go about their own activities. They, on their way to school, five kilometers in clogs, and she will join her husband in the fields. But not right now! Before going there, she will have to milk the cows, collect the eggs, prepare the meal and bake the bread, because today is bread day!