Snepele

I arrived at Snepele in June, 1930. I first stayed at Strautmali because the outgoing manager had not yet left. Passing through Riga, I went shopping. I bought a dark blue suit, pale slacks, and white shoes, which were the latest fashion. And I had my record player.

Jan 31, 2010

I had an excuse to make Ingas my first call in Snepele as it was a cream collection point. So the following Sunday after work I went to Ingas. I also knew there were four daughters as I had met them before when I was in the reserve army and came home for Christmas. We went to Biezaisi where we had an invitation to go to Ingas to celebrate all together. The four daughters were the oldest, Marta, Paula, then Konstance and the youngest, Milda at 17, well grown and very shy. I liked her from the first time I saw her and got her to dance with me even though she was so shy.

Feb 2, 2010

About two weeks before the wedding, Milda was working at a neighbour’s at milling when she got a cold. She had a fever but we went to Riga to buy the wedding rings, wedding dress, a coat, and an evening suit for me. Milda was taking all sorts of powders. Her temperature would go down immediately but later would be even higher. When we got home she went to bed and the doctor advised that the wedding had to be postponed for a month, which we did. (A: She had rheumatic fever, which damaged a heart valve and caused problems for the rest of her life). We had to notify all of our friends and relatives. Even a month later she was not very fit, so I hired a car-taxi as I was afraid she would catch a cold again. The car drove very slowly so that the horse carriages could follow, there were about 10. Along the route there was a number of honour arches, which was a custom in the country (a house high arch was constructed and covered with foliage and flowers). We had to stop at these arches and leave a bottle of drink.

Feb 3, 2010

After only about a week, Milda’s mother quietly brought her daughter to my place one evening with all of her possessions. At that time at the factory the living part consisted of a bedroom, a kitchen and a very large room that doubled as living room and office. That is where we started our new life. Because in autumn and winter there was not much milk, the factory operated only every second day. We heated our rooms and kept warm as Milda’s health improved. We were careful not to have children being so young - we wanted to enjoy our youth. We had already before marriage joined an acting group and formed a theatre group with a local teacher, Juske, from across the road taking on the role of director. The rehearsals were usually held in the large room at the factory.

Feb 4, 2010

The next nearest factory was in Kuldiga 18 kilometres away, but the Snepele factory only received milk from about 30 farms. The others processed the milk themselves and made butter which they sold in the market in Kuldiga. I suggested to the committee president that the two of us should canvas all of the farms in a 4-5 kilometre radius, which we visited on my motorbike. We offered them to try selling the milk to the factory for a month, we even lent them cans for transporting the milk. The results were surprisingly good; their income was 100% higher this way. 

Feb 6, 2010

At Vandzene, the factory was in a bad condition; dirty and a lot of the equipment was out of order. The manager said that nothing could be done as it was impossible to get any parts or repairs. With my previous experience at Snepele I knew that if I went in person with some butter I could get it, rather than leaving it to the committee. This way I could get anything that was in any of the warehouses so I took a truck and filled it with everything needed. I had the whole place whitewashed and all the machinery fixed so that we could really start producing.

Feb 12, 2010