LAP TRAYS

The local Amana wood workers made lap trays (Ruest Brett)  or preparation board tray, with one to inch sides which were used to sort and prepare the fruits and vegetables while cooks sat with the tray on their lap.  These were natural wood or painted green, red, blue or brown, all very special and prized. There are old photos showing the ladies in their bonnets, lined up on a sunny porch peeling onion skins or stripping peas on these lap trays. These trays were developed out of a sense of necessity as were many tools before Amana's great change of 1932 and very useful.