INVENTORY OF THE ESTATE OF GEORGE W. KIDWELL
December 9, 1925
| ARTICLE | VALUE. |
| 8 Grade Guernsey Cows, $40.00 each | $ 320.00 |
| 12 Holstein Cows | 480.00 |
| 1 Bull | 50.00 |
| 1 Holstein Calf | 10.00 |
| 2 Black Heiffers, $40.00 each | 80.00 |
| 2 Small Black Heiffers | 30.00 |
| 2 Black Horses | 100.00 |
| 2 Double Sets Harness | 25.00 |
| 15 milk Cans | 15.00 |
| 2 Milk Buckets | 1.00 |
| 1 Strainer | .25 |
| 133 Shocks Fodder | 39.90 |
| 120 Barrels Corn | 360.00 |
| 6 ⅔ Tons Hay Bailed, $20.00 Ton | 133.33 |
| 6600 Lbs. Loose Hay @.75 | 49.50 |
| 20 Tons Ensilage | 40.00 |
| 160 Bu. Wheat @ $1.40 per Bu | 224.00 |
| 1 High Wheel Wagon | 25.00 |
| 1 Truck Wagon | 20.00 |
| 1 Top Wagon | 10.00 |
| 1 Manure Spreader | 100.00 |
| 1 Hay Ladder | 10.00 |
| 1 Blizzard Ensilage Cutter | 15.00 |
| 1 Gasoline Engine | 20.00 |
| 1 Milk Wagon | 10.00 |
| 1 Platform Scale | 10.00 |
| 1 Set Single Harness | 1.00 |
| 1 Buggy | 2.00 |
| ½ Ton $16.00 Rock | 9.00 |
| 1 Oil Drum | .50 |
| 1 One Horse Wagon | 2.00 |
| 1 Basket Sleigh | 3.00 |
| 1 Top Wagon | 3.00 |
| 1 Smoothing Harrow | 5.00 |
| 2 Single Shovel Plows | 1.00 |
| 1 Single Cultivator | .50 |
| 1 Oliver 2 Horse Plow | 2.00 |
| 1 Spring Tooth Harrow | 5.00 |
| 1 Set Blacksmith Tools | 25.00 |
| 1 Lot of Lumber at Mill House | 40.00 |
| 1 Lot of Tools and Repairs in Mill House | 5.00 |
| 1 Cut off Saw | 1.00 |
| Contents of Well House | 15.00 |
| 1 Dort Automobile | 100.00 |
| Contents of Garage | 25.00 |
| 1 Lot of Ladders and Contents of Wood House | 25.00 |
| Contents of Tool House | 25.00 |
| 1 Grindstone | 2.00 |
| 1 Iron Boiler | 5.00 |
| 1 Wheelbarrow | 3.00 |
| 1 Hay Rake | 20.00 |
| 2 Mowing Machines, $5.00 each | 10.00 |
| 1 Riding Cultivator | 5.00 |
| 1 Corn Planter | 20.00 |
| 1 Lath Mill and Bench | 1.00 |
| 1 Grain Drill | 80.00 |
| 1 Hay Tedder | 25.00 |
| 1 Dish Harrow | 1.00 |
| 1 Three Horse Plow | 5.00 |
| 1 Binder | 5.00 |
| 1 Note dated Aug. 30th, 1921 payable 3 yrs. after date | 500.00 |
| Interest on above note from Aug. 30th, 1924, to the present time @ 6% | 38.33 |
| Cash in Herndon National Bank | 901.88 |
| Cash on Savings Account Farmers & Mechanics National | 685.60 |
| Cash on Savings Account The Potomac Savings Bank | 549.80 |
| Liberty Bonds | 200.00 |
| 5630.59 |
This inventory, attached to the will of a small farmer, shows the diverse equipment found on the 1920's farm.
Plan of the family farm of Mason F. Smith, drawn by Mason Smith, Jr., for a 4-H Club project. The farm was bought in 1932 by Floyd Kidwell and now constitutes the nucleus of Frying Pan Farm Park. From Mason Smith, Jr. Livestock Record Books in Annual Report of County Agent H. B. Derr, 1929, Virginiana Collection, Fairfax County Public Library.
Though the wood-burning stoves often imparted a special flavor to the food prepared on them (for example, one farm cooking devotee opined that no waffles could taste like those from a wood-burning stove[50]), the stoves were fearfully hot in the summer and needed constant refueling and expert attention to heat evenly. Few Fairfax County farm women had the luxury of electricity in their kitchens until well after 1935. Statistics show that only 65% of farm women cooked with electricity even in 1940.[51]
In addition to the large regular meals required by a hard-working family, the farm woman prepared the gargantuan harvest meals shared by all who worked in the fields. Cooking these meals in the late summer heat was a chore which took several days. "An ordeal" one veteran called it and enumerated some parts of the expected menu: corn bread, hot biscuits, pork shoulder, pressed chicken, fried chicken, vegetables and pie. "We'd put food enough together for them—and did they eat!"[52] Even at other times of the year, a farm wife needed to count on unexpected visitors and accommodate her activities to an unforeseen need to entertain. Her adaptability is attested to by Joseph Beard who described the open farm hospitality of the era:
When anybody came around to your farm in those days, when dinnertime came, you'd say, 'Well, it's time for dinner. Let's go eat.' It didn't seem to matter if you had somebody drop in on you on short notice. Women, ladies, mothers, wives, were accustomed to this kind of thing. It never seemed to upset them. They just took it in stride. They put on another plate and said, 'We haven't got much, but you're welcome to what we have.' They'd go on like this. They would bring out the best they could find. That was the kind of condition that prevailed.[53]