~*~Meanwhile Back At The Farm~*~

I am going to tell some of my memories of living on the farm.
Although I was just the little tattle tale sister so they say.
I do remember about life on the farm , and especially the last one.
I have some more good stories from the first farm too.
But they will come on when least expected...
So many good ones too that I would love to share.
but maybe I better not tell some things.

When you live on a farm, you have a lot more freedom to do things.
And especially back in the forties and fifties...
I can only remember certain things from the first farm as I was so young.
And some are just too funny and could get me in hot water.
But I will tell a few, and the friends and family knows about these.

You know like listening in on the ole party line telephones
Yep some of my siblings sure did and then ran out in the grape vineyards,
and began laughing and didn't know the farmer over heard them.
They even called the farmers wife ( our good friends.)
And when she ran into the house they watched her from our front yard.
Ring...Click...Ring...Click...Ring...
Click.......
Well this went on for several times, and then they got caught.
Silly Kids, never expected the farmer to tattle on them to Daddy....
I bet they thought that was why they called them party lines...
But the farmer and his wife forgave the kids.
After they gave them a good talking too... lol
I better watch what all I tell.
I might let some great secrets out, and my phone will start ringing.
But one good thing is now I got Caller ID

Hide the chickens, cuz here comes Mama...
One thing is that our Mama could ring a chickens neck as good as anyone.
She usually had to chase them down before she caught them.
After the chicken ran off staggering, it would finally fall down.
Mama would give them a hot bath and hang them on the clothesline.
Then pluck all their feathers, and wash them good and fry them up for supper.
I remember so well thinking Oh, those poor chickens.
Now that really bothered me, as those chickens were my friends.
Do you all remember the Thanksgiving movie about the pet turkey ?
The boy didn't want his pet turkey to be hung up to dry then eat him for dinner.
Well that was how I felt too....
But Mama was not bad, that is how farm people lived.
And after all we do go and buy them at the store.
But our chickens were all my pets...
Of course I was hiding and not about to watch this be done.

Then Mama would go out in the big garden and pick fresh green beans and corn.
And we always had fresh tomatoes and green onions everyday.
Oh I don't want to forget to mention the mashed potatoes and gravy.
Mama could sure fry good potatoes in her big cast iron skillets.
Well Mama fried everything in big cast iron skillets,
cuz with nine hungry mouths to feed it took more than one.
We had cornbread many nights with butter and sorghum.
We always had a fresh loaf of home baked light bread.
A big loaf of homemade bread was only enough for one meal,
and two pieces for Daddy's sandwich for work the next day.
Tomorrow we got to smell the aroma of homemade bread baking again.
Our Brother- in- Law Alfred was an only child.
When he was dating our oldest sister Loretta many nights Alfred came for supper.
Alfred use to always laugh and talk about supper at our table.
He said he never seen bread disappear from a platter so fast in his life. lol
Kids now days including my own giggle and say what in the world is light bread.
Well that is what it was called and we still call it light bread today.
I have no idea why they called it light bread.
But Daddy just didn't like the bread that was bought at the store.
He called it punk......
He said it was like eating air.
Homemade bread is heavier and with the homemade butter.
Oh My Goodness...Yummy... that sounds so good right now.
Sweet Ice Tea or Fresh Lemonade for supper.
For breakfast we also drank sweet milk from our own cows.
My kids giggle today too and say why do you call it sweet milk..
I guess cuz it is not buttermilk, something I did learn to love.
But nothing taste like it did when I was a kid.
Fresh eggs every morning for breakfast.
Country Bacon and Sausage from our own pigs.
And every morning we had homemade biscuits.
If we had even one left over, our oldest brother Eugene got it or he cried.
Our Mama could bake the best homemade pies.
So we always got plenty of good food .

Then every day after school on our first farm in Dinuba,
the older kid Loretta had the same chore every single day.
Loretta had to bake a cake.
There was no box mix cakes back in those days for us.
She had to make it all from scratch.
She would bake one and after we ate our supper we all got a piece.
There was one piece left to wrap in wax paper
for Daddy's lunch pail for work the next day.
Then after school the next day Loretta had to bake another one.
Mama thought we all should know how to cook.
Well one day Loretta baked a very pretty cake for supper.
And we always had some company drop in.
Of course Daddy and Mama always ask if they would like to join us.
I am going to get it now, but that is ok as I am ready to go.
But not to worry as this is for a lot of fun anyway.
But it is of course a true story.
I do have to tell the truth...Right ? Right...
The big moment came when it was time for our cake.
Loretta cut into that beautiful piece of 'Art' and guess what...
It was so tough and she tried so hard to cut into it.
The pot rags were right in the center of the layers.
She had used two pot rags to flip the pans over onto the plate.
Hi Loretta , do you remember doing that ?
Of course you do, as no one will ever let her forget.
But one thing is this, Loretta turned out to be a great cook.
She learned to watch though, where she held the pot rags.( potholder) lol

Then we had a ditch in the front of our house and we would play in that.
Not a lot of water and it was very safe and no small children was left alone at all.
I guess it was our one and only swimming pool.
We just went in the water in our jeans or overalls.
It was also mine and my sister Dorothy's place to hide and tell secrets.
We would sneak and take a box of Jello each and head for the ditch.
We loved eating Jello dry, as it lasted along time.
Like we were not being watched or snooped on . lol
In a family of seven kids someone was always ready to tell
Daddy or Mama on each other.
How come kids love to see each other get into trouble ?

We also had a couple of mean geese!
And I do really mean MEAN.....
They would chase anyone, and they wasn't afraid of anyone.
Bill and Lil was their names...( named after our preacher and his wife.)
That is not to say that our preacher and his wife were mean though.
They were wonderful and sweet friends to everyone in the church.
I was scared to death of those ole geese and did not want to go out into the pen.
Well just one little secret.........
The Outhouse was out there in that pen too. lol
No, I will not tell about all the ornery things those old geese would do... lol
Our Poor Mama.........
But they finally got rid of them and we had a little bit of peace. Whew !
I will just keep those stories to myself...

One more story while living on the farm in Dinuba.
I do have my first class page on the site . ( Class Of 1949 )
They didn't have Kindergarten back then...
So Mama was stuck with us at home until the first grade.
My sisters felt sorry for me having to stay home and not having much fun.
So my sister Sue took me with her one day for Show n Tell. lol
I even got to take a sack lunch that day, just like my big sisters.
Now that made me so proud to get on the school bus with a sack lunch.
Mama always made sure the kids took a good lunch to school.
Sue and Dorothy always had to share a sack with their lunch in it.
Not a brown paper sack or lunch box like kids take to school now days.
They shared it in a empty sugar sack.
Dorothy was always so happy with her legs crossed and still swinging them.
She would turn around and smile at everyone and was just always happy.
She wanted her big sister Sue to sit beside her and eat lunch together.
But Sue was so embarrassed with that sugar sack,
Sue would hold her head down and frown.
Now that she thinks back on the sugar sack lunches,
Sue wishes she had been happy and care free like Dorothy.
Those are great memories of lunch time at Wilson Elementary School.
Back to me going to school for Show n Tell....
I was always the scaredy cat of the bunch.
One of my nicknames was wiggle worm, always wiggling around.
I got my whole leg caught in the desk seat and it was scary.
They tried to get my leg out without taking the desk apart.
The more I wiggled and tried to get out, the worse it got.
I don't remember crying, but Sue did, she wanted Mama.
Well they had to call the Janitor to take the whole desk apart to get me out.
That was a day of real Trauma...
But it sure is funny now when we talk and laugh.
Wilson Elementary was the country school down the road.
We got our kid shots at school and got so scared.
Daddy would promise us if we didn't cry, he would buy us some candy.
The day of the shots, a table was sit up on the grass in front of the school house.
We had to get in line and get brave before it was our turn.
I was not one bit scared, but my brothers and sisters were.
In our head we heard the word...Candy...Candy...Candy.

They say as you get older you like to talk about your childhood.
And I for one love to talk about our younger days on the farms.
As things seem so funny when we talk about them and laugh.
And I wanted to have some fun on my site too.
Farm life has many great memories for us.
I wanted to be able to share with all of you just a little about our family.

I only wish that I could have done this
before Daddy and Mama both passed away.
Mama would have said "Whoop Carolyn" now you watch it.
And Daddy would have laughed so hard...
They both would have loved this and reminiscing with us too.
Mama and Daddy enjoyed our family laughs and fun so much...
We didn't any money extra money to spend.
But one thing we did know, was that we were loved.
Daddy worked as a carpenter during the day time.
He car pooled with other carpenters and drove at least an hour each way.
Then he came home and farmed until midnight every night.
He didn't know what eight hours of sleep was.
And Daddy and Mama always had us in Sunday School and Church.
Saturday Nights in Dinuba was spent at Youth For Christ and Stuart Hamlin

I hope that you have enjoyed this part of our Farm Memories.
And that my siblings that are still living will too....
We miss You Mama, Daddy, Arliss and Dorothy

~We'll be a family again in Heaven someday~