Our family farm required a helping hand from everyone
In August of 1966, our parents took their first vacation since their honeymoon in 1947. As dairy farmers, they were tied to morning and evening milking of the cows and feeding of the livestock that kept them from traveling until my siblings and I were old enough to perform the work. And August was a good time to go; the hiatus between harvesting the hay, wheat and oats earlier in the summer and the corn later in the fall. The cadence of farming in those days was amazing. Crops were rotated on four year cycles, with corn following hay, which followed oats, which follow wheat, which in turn followed corn, repeating the sequence. Limited fertilizer and herbicides were needed in those days because of crop rotation and a farmer could make a decent living on 100 acres with 25 head of milk cows, 50 hogs, and 100 chickens (and kids to help around the farm!)
On their vacation, our parents visited the family cottage of my Dad’s brother on Paradise Lake in northern Michigan. The cottage is still in the family, and when my wife and I visited the same cottage at the invitation of our cousin, we noticed any entry by my Mother in the old log book at the cottage documenting their visit. We added our entry as well referencing back to the visit of our parents some 40 years earlier. While our parents were away that week, in addition to all the daily farm work, I had the additional chore of painting the corn crib, which is the middle sized red building in this aerial photo of our farm. Fortunately, my sisters did the cooking and housework that week. And I don’t recall my 7 year old brother doing anything! When our parents returned, we still only received our buck and a quarter allowance that week (yes, even my brother), so I figured my pay amounted to about 2 cents an hour!
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