But then she wept

When we got to our new home, Dina wept. In the spring, Jan Bosker started to rebuild the rear barn wall, which turned out to be a good job, and he managed to give it a good, solid straight look. We had also discussed that the cookstove should go into the large kitchen and he agreed to that and would have it all in place prior to the winter. Also, a kitchen counter and sink, but I had to do the work, except for the plumbing, which would be done by Jan, and so everything went at a fairly fast pace. Dina and her sister Iet had cleaned up the two living rooms and painted as well as wall papered so that the place started to look respectable. But, when it came to the long sloping hallway, Jan decided that would have to wait till the following year since he could not replace the beams underneath as well as the foundations during the winter season. Now, we understood that logic, and agreed that would have to wait.

Two additional acres

One thing I forgot to tell. In the winter, while we still lived in Vlagtwedde on the Renneborg farm of my parents, the D. Schuring farm in Blijham went up for sale; the home as well as the farmland, which was in sections. Two acres of that farm were right adjacent to the Bosker farm we had just rented; it was eight meters wide. I had read it in the paper and talked about it with Dina and suggested that the Boskers should buy that piece of land. Most likely they will have no interest at this point, was her reply, since they have rented out the farm to us.

But the next day I went anyway and explained the merits of buying that land. In the winter months, we always had a lot of unemployed people, and the government provided subsidies which could be used to fill in ditches separating two properties. This was one argument I used. Secondly that parcel would not fetch a high price anyway because it was landlocked and, I figured, could probably be bought for 800 guilders per ha. “Well, if you come along, then let’s have a go at it” was their position. My response was that that would be too obvious, since I was the new tenant farmer, and if you go alone there won’t be any suspicion from the other potential buyers.

So it went—their winning bid was 700 guilders per ha. The next day we went to the offices of the Dutch National Heather Rehabilitation Company (Heidemaatschappij) to apply for the subsidy but were disappointed when they told us that, since this would be a small project, the subsidy would only be 50% instead of the 90%. Shortly thereafter, we received a letter from Mr. Bosker asking if I could come for visit to talk about this. When I did, I was not received very enthusiastically. They felt they had been manipulated and bought into a bad situation. I said, “well what’s the problem here,” to which Derk replied, “well, we bought the land for 700 guilders but now we are responsible to pay for half the cost of closing and filling in that ditch. But if it were a larger project, we would get a 90% subsidy, and that’s what we had counted on.

I thought about that for a moment and suggested a solution, “what if we, at the same time, rebuilt the laneway to the main road. The laneway is a mud bath most of the time anyway and needs the rebuild, and that would enlarge the project so that it would qualify for the 90%, and, overall, would cost less than having to pay 50% of the smaller project. They agreed, but said then that I should go to Winschoten, to their office, and make the case.

So a few days later I headed to the town of Winschoten and laid out the case for them. Sure enough, it was agreed on. So we not only closed the ditch, but also got a brand new, long lane way to the main road (which was some distance away) as well as an extra 3 acres of land. At 300 guilders for closing the ditch and building a new laneway, plus 700 guilders for the extra land, the total cost came to 1000 guilders. The Bosker boys had made a great deal, I thought! All of Blijham was surprised, shall we say, because the Boskers never spent a nickel on themselves and now that they had rented out the farm there seemed to be no holds barred. But I knew it was all in their own best interest.

A Slow Renovation

So let’s go back to our own story of the renovations. In the spring Bosker came back, took out the front door, straightened out the front steps and in the evening put the door back in. Then he stayed away a couple of days again. So I went after him again and he told me that he also had other things to do—“there is still much waiting”. But a few days later he showed up again. First, he filled in the front steps, then made a cement step out of it. We were very happy with that, since it closed up the large gap. This little job took months, but I had much more on my list and made an evening visit with the two brothers. The roof had to be repaired, preferably a new one. I thought I better speak with Derk, since with Jan you won’t get anything done. I told them the situation, that when it rained and we had grain in the barn, we had to cover it with a tarp to keep it dry. Up to this point they had loaned me a tarpaulin, plus we had one of our own and could cover all of it. No, said Derk, “that does not work. Jan will have to go to the contractor, Toren.”

Lo and behold, Toren came to take a look. I had a chance to talk to him briefly, but then Jan Bosker showed up and that was the end of my input. But I had gotten the opportunity to tell Toren that he should talk them into a new roof and straightening out the rest of the barn as well. What they agreed to I don’t know. In any case, they lifted the whole roof off, took out the twisted beams and put them aside. Here and there they put in new beams, plus a lot of new lathing and new roof tiles. That must have cost them quite a few nickels, but then everything was quite cheap in those years.

I had also asked for a new rain cellar but the “boat was docked” and Jan resisted once again. “There is never an end to it” is all he said. It had taken three years, but the house looked a lot better. I should have done some of it myself; for 60 guilders it would have been completed with a pump in the kitchen. But for that I was too stubborn. I never thought through how convenient this would have been for my wife. I wanted, as quickly as possible, to change the farm and barns.

One time—it was in the evening while I was milking the cows along the path—Bontkes came by and started to talk. Bontkes was a farmer on the Turfweg. He told me that he wanted to rent out his farm and asked if I would be interested—about 60 acres of land, all in one section. “Yes, I would be interested, but my current lease still has three years to go, and the Boskers spent a lot upgrading the place, so I wouldn’t dare to try to get out from under it.”

Anyway, we had a fine life together there with the children. In 1938 Henk was born, in the winter, and then we had three. (see addendum)