The Struggle to Get By
(Earning a Living)



After choosing their quarter section of land and building their shelters and homes, the "Sons of the Soil", as the Ukrainians have been called, turned their attention to the other necessities of life.

One of the first things the pioneers did was prepare a garden. They sweated under the hot sun and fought the pesky mosquitos as they chopped trees, dug up roots and cleared away the rocks. Then they manually tilled the soil by pulling a plough with bent backs. If they could afford it, they used oxen. Finally, they sowed the seed that they had brought from the Old Country. Unfortunately, many pioneers settled on rocky or sandy land which was poor for growing crops and resulted in a poor harvest. Any surplus produce that the pioneers grew would be taken to market and sold. As in the Old Country, clothing could be made from hemp that the pioneers grew.

(Some of the tools that the pioneers used had been brought from the old country but many of their tools were hand-made. The tools shown in the photograph to the right, the rake, pitch fork and flail are hand-made. The handle for the syckle would have been hand-made but the metal blade would have been brought from the old country or purchased locally.)

(In addition to making their own tools, the pioneers, who were largely self-sufficient, had to make other items for their homes such as cooking utensils like the bowl and spoons in the photo below.)

The pioneers usually augmented their meagre funds by leaving the farm to find work. The men would leave in the spring and return in the fall. Most often they found work on other farms, on the railroads or in the mines.

While the men were away, the women stayed at home, cared for the children and tended the garden. When the children were old enough they helped their mothers and when they got older still, they themselves went off to find work. The boys, like their fathers, usually found work on the farms, on the railroads or in the mines. The girls usually found work as a maid in their wealthier neighbours' homes.

After the growing season had drawn to an end, the pioneers would huddle indoors through the cold winter months and if to their misfortune fire destroyed all they had, they would start all over again. Although the Ukrainian pioneers had to struggle just as hard in Canada as they had to in Ukraine, there was a greater chance that they could improve their lot in Canada.



Copyright © 1999, David Nemirovsky.