Hard labour pays off

Working as a peat cutter was tough. But for the lucky ones who had a labour contract there were advantages, such as a house to live in, paid for by the employer. Colleagues without such a contract lived in sod huts and shacks which they had to build themselves. 

The work was done with the whole family. The man did the cutting, his wife and children piled up the wet peat so that it could dry. The lunch break allowed just enough time to gobble down some buckwheat pancakes and a cup of coffee (3), which had to be enough to labour on until dusk. The system was: the harder you worked, the more you earned. In the rate booklet (4) you could see how much each type of work payed.

By June, the peat cutting season is almost over. Time to prepare a new cutting plot. With a special spade (5) the top layer of fresh peat is removed and carefully put aside. After all the peat has been dug away and the sand layer under it comes into view, the sand can be mixed with manure and the preserved top layer, which produces fertile soil for agriculture.