resister like Zimmerman could cooperate with the farmfront war effort , there was no excuse for other farm folks to be slackers . 20
Faith , family , and patriotism all support the farmer at war . In one sense , the film continued a long-standing agenda of the Department of Agriculture , that the best way to increase food production and to stabilize rural communities was to promote a gendered division of labor in the farm family . The husband / father produces food and works very hard outdoors , the wife / mother keeps house and processes food , and young children are not shown working in the field . Allowances for wartime exigencies included sharing farm equipment , cooperating with neighbors in a microcosm of national democratic decisionmaking and task-sharing , and shifting crops to meet wartime needs on the advice of the County War Board . In this film , Amanda Zimmerman is not shown working in the field , nor are the children . Moses and Amanda live in the Grossdoddy house while son Vernon and his family live in the main house . 21 As plain people , they are not isolated from their neighborhood , but are fully part of planning meetings and sharing machinery and labor . Zimmerman actively consults with his Government Man and cooperates by raising soybeans . Above all , he heads a stable family characterized by productive work and humble faith .
The OWI intended its portrait of Moses Zimmerman as a device to encourage other farmers to increase production as part of the nation ’ s necessary war work . To Zimmerman and his co-religionists , however , he was 20
Donald Hershey , conversation with Katherine Jellison and Steven D . Reschly ,
Elizabethtown , PA , 7 December 2010 . 21 In Pennsylvania Dutch culture , the Grossdoddy House was often constructed for retired elderly family members as an addition to an existing farmhouse . In this case , it was part of the farmhouse and not a separate building .
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