Shirleyan English

1952, Thedford

Shirleyan English with Mary Shea (left) and Mary Ellen (Sitter) Anderson (right).

I came to Thedford in the summer of 1952 from North Bay in Northern Ontario when I was 16 years old. I had just completed Grade 12 and had never worked on a farm. My first experience was weeding celery and I remember being the only one working with the farmer, who picked me up in a very old car and who had a tendency to meander all over the road as he drove. Another day, I was transferred to a cucumber patch where I worked with other girls weeding on hands and knees and trying to avoid the prickly stuff on the vines.

Then I began working for the Sitter family, where the specialty was onions and peppermint; I remained with them the rest of the summer. There was Nicholas, whom we called Grandpa Sitter; William or Bill, his son; and grandson George, whom I ended up dating most of the summer.

Being from Northern Ontario, I had never seen a large farm field and at my first sight of green onions marching in rows seemingly to the horizon, my jaw dropped. I thought they went on forever! We weeded them on our hands and knees, three rows at a time, straddling the middle row.

Then it was on to hoeing peppermint, fortunately standing on our feet. Late in the summer the peppermint was harvested and dried and became sort of like hay. The Sitters had a large still in one field in which the peppermint was distilled into oil.

Then back to the onions, pulling them up by hand once they were mature and leaving them on the ground for the tops to dry. Next step was to softly rub the onions on a large sieve, inset into a table-like structure. We did this all day with the chaff flying off in all directions and all over us – into our hair, down our blouses, into our shoes and literally into every nook and cranny on our bodies. At the end of the day we were filthy and rushed to the showers, racing each other for first spot. Next day we did it all again.

Sneaking out 

My most vivid experience was sneaking out with some girls one evening and being picked up by a group of young reservists from nearby Ipperwash Army Cadet Camp, all pre-arranged, I discovered. Someone had an old car and we all poled in headed for the beach and an impromptu party. 

After parking near the camp, we were suddenly surrounded by popping noises, flashing lights and shadowy figures. A man in a uniform appeared at the window and wanted to know, curtly, what we were doing there. Immediately one of the boys in the car became serious, called him “Sir” and were ordered to get the car out of there. They did. We had ended up in the middle of a mock battle!

The car somehow disappeared and we had to wait for a ride. We reached Thedford camp just before 7a.m., snuck up the outside stairs, but there was no time to go to bed before we were called to breakfast. I worked all that day and went to bed the following night right after supper. I never sneaked out again.