In the early 1950s, Ruohomaa visited two burgeoning families in rural Maine, including Therees and Lloyd Brooks, who were raising 12 daughters in an old schoolhouse: Joyce, Eleanor, RaeJean, Hazel, Donna, twins Janet and Janice, Rosalie, Lloyd, Eunice, Alma, Elaine, and Irvena. The Brookses lived in Pittsfield, a small town which had been a hub of regional farming and wool production in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

Ruohomaa, an only child, must have been fascinated by these thronging households. His appreciation for people is evident, as usual, in the candor and creative play he brings to these portraits of people in the midst of their intimate surroundings.​