Early farm days--reflections on childhood days

Discussion in 'Back to Basics' started by -06, Jan 3, 2013.


  1. -06

    -06 Monkey+++

    Wrote this in reply to a bud as we were talking about how we were raised on the farms:

    John, am 67 now(I think-lol) and remember raising our own food. We canned and dried food all summer. Raised our own chicks, milked our cows, plowed mules, had hogs, raised pigs, and stored our veggies the old fashioned ways. The fruit trees provided goodies that we fought the worms for and bees that pollinated plus yielding honey. We traded our wheat for flour, corn for meal and chicken food, and eggs /butter/milk for sugar, coffee, tea, chocolate, etc. We never went hungry and lived well. We cut wood with a two man cross cut, split it with wedges, and hauled it to the wood pile via sled or wagon. The wood stove provided heat for the kitchen and delicious meals that always smelled so wonderful. We packed our lunches in lard cans and trudged off across the fields barefooted with hoes/rakes across our shoulders. The washing was done in cast iron wash pots and took all day to do. Sometimes we would go to the creek to wash work clothes plus taking baths. The ice man would come once a week and set blocks of ice into the icebox on the back porch. Think we went to the drive in movies twice in my childhood days. We lived very frugally but paid off three farms by working day and night. Drove the old farm tractor many nights and went to school the next day. We caught rabbits in traps, shot squirrels, caught fish in the creek, and ate them all. Hand me down clothing was the order of the day. Some had more patches than clear cloth. Mom made our shirts, girls dresses, and repaired them all. I remember my grand mother (who lived during the depression) tying coins in her handkerchief and slipping them into her home made bra. We did not waste anything—time included. Like you said—it will not be the same way next time. The vast majority of people do not have the knowledge, will, or ability to supply, heat, food, or defend for themselves. Less than 10% of America can farm or take care of their families in bad situations.
     
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