When Dad moved us to the "country" in 1945 we had 7 acres on which to roam. The place now is well inside the city limits but at that time we felt it was country. There was a large pasture, large garden spot, a barn, chicken house and a place for rabbit hutches.
Dad worked full time for the Frisco Railway and usually worked shifts from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00, or midnight until 7:00 a.m. but with the help of my mother and brother managed to keep the "farm" going. We had rabbits, chickens, once bantam chickens and a couple of ducks, Silly and Dilly. Blaze, the horse was a bit skittish and not much for riding even though my brothers tried. My brother always had FFA beef projects in high school and we had a couple of cows for household use.
The house was a three bedroom, fieldstone house with a front porch across the north side. A large maple tree was in front, a line of noisy silver maples along one side and elm trees in the back yard. Mom had lots of flowers, perennials, annuals and many climbing roses on the sides of the house. My favorite was the little yellow rose outside my bedroom window. Dad and my brother built a garage and workshop in back of the house. The workshop is still standing although the house has been replaced with an office building. We lived near enough to the Federal Prison to hear the siren sound when a prisoner had escaped. We used to stand on the wall of the front porch hoping to catch sight of a man in stripped coveralls running through the fields. One night seven prisoners escaped and the authorities were still searching the area when Dad left for work at midnight. When he got to the main road he was told that our area was where they expected to find them. He came home and stayed with us that night.
We had an 8 person party line phone so had to listen for the number and length of rings to know if the call was for us. Our ring was two longs and two shorts. While on the phone we frequently heard clicks as other persons on the line picked up the phone. If someone else wanted to use the phone while we were on it there would be a series of quick clicks. One didn't dare disclose many secrets on that system.
We had a great neighbor, Mr. Krug, who grew lots of sweet potatoes each year. In the fall he would bring them to our house by wheelbarrow to store in our basement until they were sold. He spoke very broken English and always had a plug of chewing tobacco in his cheek.
Mrs. Krug always had a cookie jar of sugar cookies.
Mom's days on the farm were busy and she worked very hard. Dad always plowed a very large garden and Mom canned or froze as much of the produce as possible. I remember one summer Mom had a broken leg but managed to take care of the garden and do all the gathering and canning of the vegetables dragging that heavy cast along. We always had a basement full of canned fruits and vegetables for winter. We had a strawberry patch, rhubarb and asperagus, and she used to buy bushels of peaches for canning. She made jams, jellies and even sourkraut. (I tried making it one year and it was a disaster!) I remember she used to make delicious cottage cheese, too with a far better flavor than the cartons in the store today. We always had "fryers" to eat and enough to freeze for later. She was an excellent cook and any family reunion or holiday saw the entire extended family around our dinner table.
With the shifts Dad worked, he had to sleep mostly during the day. We were reminded frequently that we should be quiet because Dad was asleep. It also meant that I didn't have to practice my piano lessons until after dinner in the evening, getting out of washing the dishes. Dad's working hours seems to have an impression my younger brother as he sang the Christmas Carol, "It Came Upon the Midnight Shift."
We had a little black and white terrier, Happy, and usually plenty of cats. It was always upsetting to me to find a litter of new kittens in the barn one day and the next morning to find a neighboring tom cat had killed the kittens. One trio of kittens who survived were named Surely, Goodness and Mercy by little sister.
We had a great neighbor, Mr. Krug, who grew lots of sweet potatoes each year. In the fall he would bring them to our house by wheelbarrow to store in our basement until they were sold. He spoke very broken English and always had a plug of chewing tobacco in his cheek.
Mrs. Krug always had a cookie jar of sugar cookies.Mom's days on the farm were busy and she worked very hard. Dad always plowed a very large garden and Mom canned or froze as much of the produce as possible. I remember one summer Mom had a broken leg but managed to take care of the garden and do all the gathering and canning of the vegetables dragging that heavy cast along. We always had a basement full of canned fruits and vegetables for winter. We had a strawberry patch, rhubarb and asperagus, and she used to buy bushels of peaches for canning. She made jams, jellies and even sourkraut. (I tried making it one year and it was a disaster!) I remember she used to make delicious cottage cheese, too with a far better flavor than the cartons in the store today. We always had "fryers" to eat and enough to freeze for later. She was an excellent cook and any family reunion or holiday saw the entire extended family around our dinner table.
With the shifts Dad worked, he had to sleep mostly during the day. We were reminded frequently that we should be quiet because Dad was asleep. It also meant that I didn't have to practice my piano lessons until after dinner in the evening, getting out of washing the dishes. Dad's working hours seems to have an impression my younger brother as he sang the Christmas Carol, "It Came Upon the Midnight Shift."
We had a little black and white terrier, Happy, and usually plenty of cats. It was always upsetting to me to find a litter of new kittens in the barn one day and the next morning to find a neighboring tom cat had killed the kittens. One trio of kittens who survived were named Surely, Goodness and Mercy by little sister.
The best event that happened while living there was the arrival of a baby sister. She was and still is such a joy to me. We moved when she was ready to begin first grade. The one room school had closed by that time and she would have had a long bus ride to town.
It was a great place to grow up.
