The Superior Express -

House designers these days say having a “mud room” in the house is a must. On a farm, what some today would term as being a “mud room” could be called a “catch all room” and to all farmwives, it is a must have room. It is entered when a family member comes inside the house.

At the farm home where I grew up, my parents didn’t have a catch all room. Instead we had a screened in back porch which served as one. As in most farmhouses, the most used entrance led into the kitchen so the screened in porch was where we would place our overshoes, winter coverings and anything else not...