Grandpa's Farm

[nancy237]

We remember it like it was paradise.

It had fruit trees, an open sided shed that was neat as a pin, chickens,a porch type swing under the oak tree, a grape arbor we could go underneath, horse shoes, a garden with peanuts , a car shed that held his shiney car that only drove to church & then got cleaned and put away ,an old bathtub that would fill with rain from the shed.He let us play in that tub all we wanted.

The highlight of getting to spend the night was getting up to feed the chickens with grandpa. Always with a warning to watch our step. Every year we got to pick our favorite gourd that he would carve out for us.

We only went on Sunday and I didn't know he worked hard all week on the Farm because he took Sunday off to play with us. He died when I was 12 and the whole place was bulldozed by the aunt that inherited it.

Now I searched online and saw that it was only 2 acres and 1/2 of that was the house & yard..Grandpa had a fence & gate behind the house that you entered the farm through.

[Reb]

Good morning Nancy. I have wonderful memories similar to yours. I have found it's better to just remember, rather than try to go back physically. I drove by my old homestead and was SHOCKED by how rundown and dirty it all looked. I just moved on and keep my memories freshened. Take care, Reb

[sassafras manor]

Yeah its crazy to think that mygrandpa's farm was only 5 acres but to my brother and I it semed as if it was 100 acres of freedom. We used to spend all of our free time during visits "exploring" his pastures that were no more than 4 acrs or so. Now that our boys are old enough at ages 4 an 7, they enjoy exploring our wooded pasture areas just as much as my brother and I did.

[mountainlaurel]

My Granddaddy didn't own a farm but he owned a glass shop and he practiced that take your grandchild to work day way before it was popular. My mother was his only child and she had 6 of us. He would take each one of us by ourselves to work with him every so often and then to lunch and let us order whatever we wanted. Then he would always have to finish mine.
After that, we got to spend the day fishing on the river with him and my grandmother on his little john boat. He knew how to make good grandchild memories.

[Cornhusker]

I am fortunate to live on my grandparents' farm
Lots of happy memories and I hope my grandchildren will have fond memories too.

[7thswan]

I also have great memories of my Moms parents. I am trying to make memories for my Grandbaby. At 3 she has helped feed all of the animals here,picked her own watermelon,last year she helped me cann tomatoes and put them in the Pantry. She saw my antique childs hump back chest that I keep all my knitting supplies in, she called it a Treasure Chest, and we played with the contents for hours. I'm in the process of collecting things for her own Treasure Chest,filled with craft items.The memories my Grandparets gave me have greatly influnced my life.

[jwal10]

I too have fond memories of Grandpas farm. 5 acres, a big garden, a barn and a small cottage. The ground was a rock pile, the rock quarry was right behind it. Grandpa died when I was 12 and Grandma had to sell. Only dirt my Grandparents ever owned. He kept a horse for several years until he got cancer, he loved to ride. Grandpa farmed all his life with horses on rented ground in Kansas, even during the depression. He moved to Oregon in 1953, bought the place in 1955 and passed away in 1968. I got polio in 1962, Grandad found out he had cancer the same year. We were sick together and spent a lot of time wandering that little place, feeding the chickens, remodeling the little cottage and gardening....James

[Wild Blue]

Such great memories! I too have warm recollections of my time on "the farm" in Giddings Texas. All my old folks there are really really old now and I worry what is going to happen to the land once they are all gone. I can only hope they leave it to the right people in the family so it doesn't get divided and sold off.

[Shadow]

moved off for work, job was on call 7/24 family visited us. Years later after parents had passed we took a week to go back and check our childhood memories, after a day we checked out of the motel and went back home. We decided real quick to leave the memories we had as we remembered them. Everything changes, people move, people pass, buildings torn down, buildings replaced, woods now subdivisions, fields are shopping centers, We just don't go back except when loved ones pass and there are not many left. I could never live there again, I have my memories. Have been here 47 years

[FarmboyBill]

I was born, raised up on grand[pas farm, tho it was more grandmas. She died when I was 2, in 48. Grandpaw died in 58. Farms still like it was mostly. Dad gave it to him worth $250.000. I got a 10G check.

[foaly]

I inherited my grandparents' home last year. I bless my grandfather every day for working hard on the railroad for so many years, never realizing he would be helping me and my sons in such an immeasurable way.

[stormwalker]

My Pop's farm was 368 acres.
When he died, my mother got rid of it as soon as she could.
I went back once-It was a campground. I was shown all over, the man was so proud of all the amenities. They even had a pool table in the rec building.
All the 1700s buildings were gone.
I managed not to cry until I was out of earshot.

[unregistered41671]

Originally Posted by stormwalker

My Pop's farm was 368 acres.
When he died, my mother got rid of it as soon as she could.
I went back once-It was a campground. I was shown all over, the man was so proud of all the amenities. They even had a pool table in the rec building.
All the 1700s buildings were gone.
I managed not to cry until I was out of earshot.

I know exactly how you felt. Been there, done that. I was talking to a woman years ago about "going home". She barely knew me and my history and she said," don't you know that you can't ever go home again". I did not understand until later but home was not there and had changed a lot. There is a Lowe's parking lot on the spot where the first house I lived in at birth. The old home place will have to be nothing but a memory.

[stormwalker]

P.B.
I hope you're in a good place now and making your own history.

[unregistered41671]

Originally Posted by stormwalker

P.B.
I hope you're in a good place now and making your own history.

I am, thanks. Good history too.

[boundarybunnyco]

my grandma had a little farm of 35 acres on the Kootenai River in Montana. I loved hanging out at grandma's with all my cousins. We roamed all over that place, rode our Shetlands all over, built "forts" in the woods. Ice skated on the pond in winter and swam in the "crick" in the summer. Stood on the ponys' backs to pick apples under the apple trees. Had a blue heeler named Ranger who ate grain with the horses. We had pigs, chickens, rabbits, horses, ponies, dogs, a cat, and calves.
Grandma died when I was 18, and her 9 kids sold the place to Louisiana Pacific. They bulldozed Grandmas huge log house and built a lumber mill. Later the mill closed down and the land was sold again. I never go down there because I prefer to remember how it used to be.

[salmonslayer]

Originally Posted by sassafras manor

Yeah its crazy to think that mygrandpa's farm was only 5 acres but to my brother and I it semed as if it was 100 acres of freedom. We used to spend all of our free time during visits "exploring" his pastures that were no more than 4 acrs or so. Now that our boys are old enough at ages 4 an 7, they enjoy exploring our wooded pasture areas just as much as my brother and I did.

You sound like me. My maternal grandparents had a 5 acre farm in Michigan when I was a young boy and they didnt have indoor plumbing except they did have a hand pump in the kitchen for water. They had a small barn, chickens, a garden and an old nag of a horse but for years I thought of that place as this huge impressive farm that I enjoyed so much. It was only when I was an adult and my mother showed pictures of the farm and of us on the farm visiting that I realized the farm was only 5 acres, the farmhouse was about 600 square feet and they were dirt poor. All I remember was the freedom and the fun and the good cooking.

[wanda1950]

My grandpa was a cotton farmer. My daddy sharecropped for him until Grandpa retired & sold his land. I remember the long, long bottom being irrigated from the creek that ran through. They let us play in the water in the ditch. I picked cotton in that bottom--it took all day to pick a row & the cotton was over nearly everybody's head. Not a breath of air to be had!!

Cotton sacks were weighted on a balance scale & we got a little break at that time. Our lazy neighbor boy would be often be found by his mother at this time sleeping in the cotton wagon. She would jerk up a cotton stalk and "wear him out". But he would creep away agin as soon as possible.

Also remember fence rows being cleaned out with a flame thrower of some kind. I found this absolutely fascinating & still wonder how they didn't set the wooden posts on fire.

We went to church a lot with Granny & Grandpa--they were Pentecostals & some of the services were hair-raising. Also remember "dinner on the grounds" and hunting Easter eggs at church. I loved to see Granny in her Sunday clothes--she was fond of brooches & wore little hats with short veils & gloves every time. If Grandpa wasn't working, he was always somewhat dressy--always wore a hat & usually a sport coat of some kind. A suit & tie for Sunday even though it was a little one room country church. It's funny he & daddy both wore khaki for work clothes & now it's good for business wear.

We always killed hogs with them--they were full of knowledge & helped with how to cut & prepare the meat. Granny & Mama canned a lot of sausage & other pork--Mama was always terrified of the pressure cooker but I don't think Granny was afraid of the devil himself. Granny would make souse & Mama said she boiled eyes & all--I never saw this spectacle but I still don't eat souse.

Granny kept a huge garden & orchard & an immaculate house. As she got older, we helped her a lot--washing jars that MY hand was the only one small enough to fit in. When she passed away in her 80's she still had home canned food. She cooked a Sunday dinner every day & everyone was expected to eat hearty or hurt Granny's feelings. There was a cooked breakfast every day all her life--Grandpa ate a serving size bowl of oats with salt pepper & butter. He also ate some kind of meat (she used to cook salmon patties sometimes), eggs & biscuits along with coffee. I don't remember her having gravy every day--I guess it depended on the meat. He lived to a ripe & healthy old age & died from a car wreck--maybe it was the oats! She was a good sized woman but never a big eater. I guess after all that cooking she just wanted to get some rest.

She REALLY did spring cleaning. We carried everything out & washed the walls & windows & cleaned & rewaxed her linoleum floor. Washed down the old coil bedsprings & dusted everything. She had that red velvet furniture with patterns shaved into it & it was as immaculate as new. I loved her big feather beds & her chenille bedspreads with the big basket of flowers patterns on them. I didn't like the horribly dark and scarey chifferobe!!

Granny had a pedal singer & was an excellent seamstress. One year she made me a whole box of doll clothes--some from scraps of my dresses. I'm 60 & still have just one of these dresses. Would give anything to have them all again.

I think their lives & aspirations are one of the main reasons I want to live more self sufficiently . They had a hard but abundant & prosperous life. I still miss them very much after nearly 40 yrs. Their last home, of course, is gone--Replaced by a McMansion.

I really think I could go on just about endlessly about them!