The Women Behind the Plow photo exhibit catalog features the women interviewed by Sue Balcom in the book of the same name, and additional women interviewed for the Prairie Public Broadcasting documentary, “Women Behind the Plow”.
Women featured in the hardcover book are: Mrs. Ida (Schilling) Meidinger, Wishek, ND (deceased); Mrs. Lillian (Schwind) Sayler, Wishek, ND; Mrs. Lorraine (Meidinger) Kaseman, Jamestown, ND (deceased); Mrs. Alice (Woehl) Buerkley, Kulm, ND; Mrs. Frieda (Thurn) Ketterling, Wishek, ND; Mrs. Irene (Mastel) Brindle, Hazelton, ND; Mrs. Arlene (Wagner) Kramer, Strasburg, ND; Mrs. Mary Ann (Schumacher) Gefroh, Linton, ND; Mrs. Mary Ann (Werre) Lehr, Lehr, ND; Mrs. Violet (Eiseman) Diegel, Wishek, ND; Alice (Rohrich) Kramer, Linton, ND; Mrs. Helen (Iszler) Frisch, Ashley, ND (deceased).
Other women featured in the catalog were interviewed and appear in Prairie Public’s documentary, “Women Behind the Plow” – Carmen Rath-Wald, Napoleon, ND; Acacia (Jonas) Stuckle, Linton, ND; Eileen (Hulm) Wald, Hague, ND; Karly Just, LaMoure, ND; Dawn (Welder) Horner and her daughter, Katie Jo, Napoleon, ND; Rita (Job) Mosset, Linton, ND; Joyce (Rath) Scherr and her daughter, Emily, Zeeland, ND; Esther (Mertz) Opp, Napoleon, ND; Sue (Hoger) Kleingartner, Gackle, ND; Nikki (Lund) Rau, Napoleon, ND.
Lila Jane Werner, Hazelton, ND, shares in the catalog, “I love springtime when baby animals and poultry were born. I have fond memories of working on the farm no matter how hard or easy.”
Esther (Mertz) Opp, grew up on a farm near Dawson, ND, writes: “During threshing, we had big meals at the house, usually around 12 people to feed. The menu was often spring fryers, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, tomatoes, beans, glorified rice, pickles, homemade bread and pies. Dad plowed the garden with horse and single plow. We hand seeded all the vegetables. We picked the produce and preserved by mostly canning. It was a chore when the flies were really bad and the heat. We always milked by hand and washed up the pails and separator as well as feeding the calves every morning and night.”
Carmen Rath-Wald, former Logan County Extension Agent, writes, “ German-Russian women were tasked with caring for their families including feeding and sustaining their spouse and the children, while at the same time, providing back-breaking field hand work, and caring for the animals. Single women sometimes homesteaded on the border while their husband homesteaded on an adjacent homestead. They were the ones who had sewn flower and vegetable seeds into their skirts so they could feed their families and provide beauty and tradition."
