This is a guest blog by an anonymous Fish Report reader as part of a series of periodic posts that will focus on cherished memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s
The Rest of the Story!
Last week’s post about my parents first vacation many years after their honeymoon caused my siblings to remind me that the week our parents were gone was more than all work for us, as my oldest sister and I had thrown a party that night including a hayride for the partygoers. We sent our youngest siblings to bed early before everyone began arriving. The party started and soon the hayride took off. I was driving the tractor and a cute female partygoer wanted to drive, so of course I let her. That led to some problems, as suddenly we were in the ditch running down a neighbor’s fence before I could get the tractor stopped.Her view might have been blocked and it was dark out. Fortunately no one was hurt, except perhaps the cute partygoer's ego! The fence was fixed the next day well before our parents arrived back home, and nobody was the wiser until my younger siblings, who had been forced to go to bed early, spilled the beans about the party and the hayride gone awry. And regarding my 7-year-old brother not doing any work, he claims he shoveled manure all week and also rode on the hayride. Actually my sisters recalled he spent the time at an uncle and aunt’s place, for sure doing no work there either! Now you know the rest of the story.
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Summer Hiatus on the Farm - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories
This is a guest post by an anonymous Fish Report reader as part of a series of periodic posts that will focus on cherished memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s
Summer Hiatus on the Farm
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!
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!
Friday, August 21, 2015
75 Years Ago this Week - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories
This is a guest post by an anonymous Fish Report reader as part of a series of periodic posts that will focus on cherished memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s
These are two of the Ft. Loramie men that traveled and camped
11 days and 1400 miles to Washington DC and back 75 years ago
75 Years Ago this Week
Several weeks ago Fish Report referenced an event that occurred 75 years ago this week involving 17 Ft. Loramie FFA members who traveled to Washington DC, camping in tents all the way there and back. The article indicated two of the travelers were my uncles, my Dad’s and Mom’s younger brothers, each of whom served in WWII a few years later. As it turns out, another one of the travelers, Leo Meyer, had kept a diary of the trip. So at the request of my aunt, the widow of one of my uncles, a search began for the diary. Initially archives of the Ft. Loramie Historical Association were searched and a reference to the trip was found but the diary was not included. However, it did indicate the diary was published in the Minster Post. So a search of the Minster (now Community) Post archives on the Minster Historical Society website turned up the August 30, 1940 edition with the diary article on page 3. It’s an interesting description of the trip as seen below. Even though the trip was sponsored by the Future Farmers of America, neither of my uncles became farmers; no doubt somewhat swayed by their discoveries during the Washington DC trip 75 years ago (which also likely further influenced their WWII service).
(Click on article to expand)
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