The Farm

Yep! 100 acres of farm, not just any old farm, but a farm designed for a kid who loves to be outside. It had about 14 acres of woods that went on across the fence for what seemed like forever. Through the woods meandered a dandy creek that had small ponds of various sizes all along its banks. Cattail swamps were scattered here and there. Also, there was a large barn, a granary, chicken coop, pig pen, corn crib and a dilapidated old machine shed that, wonder of wonders, held a beautiful cutter. A cutter is a sleigh designed to be pulled by a single horse.

In the sleigh was a dusty, old, worn-out robe of an animal hide that later proved to be buffalo. The barn had 2 rows of stations for milking cows, a big box stall and four stalls for work horses. Of immediate interest was the fact that the lower floor was full of sparrows. By shutting the doors and windows you could close off all escape and then swat the birds with brooms. Grandpa’s dad informed him that each sparrow cost the farmers a bushel of grain per year so we had constant warfare with sparrows and starlings.

The previous owner hadn’t cleaned out the manure and a cow could stand on it and just clear the ceiling. There was a wheelbarrow and a plank that extended from the outside door to the top of the manure pile. Great-Grandpa was still doing carpenter work so the 2 brothers got busy forking out the mess, putting it in the wheelbarrow and dumping it over the back side of the manure pile. This went on undetected by Grandpa’s dad until it was all done. One night after supper Grandpa’s parents were talking about getting some milk cows. Great-Grandpa didn’t want to face the terrible job of cleaning out the barn to make room for the cows. The boys told him to come out to the barn so they could show him something. You can imagine his amazement to find it all cleaned out!

Grandpa’s dad was slowly buying the needed machinery to farm. He bought a “General” tractor, disk, drag, sulky mowing machine, etc. The neighbors had Belgium horses which were much more interesting to Grandpa than a tractor. His days were spent exploring the fields and woods. What a beautiful place. The creek and ponds were full of turtles and frogs, squirrels in the woods, and raccoon tracks in the mud. What more could a kid want?

So began a whole new phase in the life of my Grandpa. He had a lot of things to learn about: Such as skunks, trapping, country kids, getting shot at when walking 1 1/10th of a mile to school, and one room country schools with 1 teacher, troublesome girls, etc.