GRANDPA TSCHETTER'S ORCHARDS & GARDENS
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GRANDPA TSCHETTER'S ORCHARDS & GARDENS |
 Grandpa Tschetter in his Orchard |
 Grandpa Tschetter in his Orchard |
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Grandpa had transformed this country hillside into a multi terraced, picture-perfect, landscape that (in my mind) could have easily been featured in Better Homes and Gardens. Below the terraces, he had good bottom land that produced an assortment of fruit trees and a large, productive garden. He had built some storage buildings which always had the scent of sprays used for controlling plant & tree disease. Two of the four houses remain. Where the two former houses, it is, once again, a long, sloping hill with no trace of the hundreds of hours of sweat and labor by the little man and his eight foot pry bar, the main tool that he used to move those huge slabs of broken cement which he used for terracing. (recollection by Grandson Jerry Vegter.) Full story of how Grandpa Tschetter transformed the hill into an orchard. After our long trips from Wisconsin to South Dakota, the first thing we'd do is run from the car to Grandpa's orchard and garden to get great fruit and vegetables. Grandpa would load the harvest into his truck and sell it door to door. Grandma did a great deal of canning. And Grandpa kept honey bee hives (maybe 9 or 10) along with a little shed for processing the honey which he then sold. Grandpa also kept pigeons. It seems like he also raised rabbits. Grandma also used to make soap (old fashioned lye soap) in her basement. I used to love to rummage in Grandpa's basement because he collected all sorts of school type supplies (pencils, pens, notebooks) from the college where he was a custodian. (recollection by Granddaughter Dianna Vegter.) |
Jacob's Terraced Garden in Winter Lower garden terraces, missing in 2015 photo below.  Jacob & Katie's Home Today (2015) 830 Lawnridge, Huron; Granddaughter Kathy All that remains of the "multi-terraced, picture-perfect, landscape .. that produced an assortment of fruit trees and a large, productive garden."  |