Gardening and Other
Things
My husband grew up in a family of ten. Like most farm families a garden
was essential to feeding the members. Although he was the oldest, eventually everyone
helped him with the planting and upkeep.
Fifty pounds of potatoes were planted, and most of these were consumed as
they matured with few left for canning. The usual salad ingredients of lettuce,
radishes, green onions, tomatoes, carrots, and peppers abounded. The canning of
green beans and the making of dill pickles were common practices.
His family had a milk cow, and they drank raw milk. Every year 100 chicks
were purchased, hens for egg laying and roosters for eating. His mother killed
three daily, cleaned them, and fried them to take to the field during harvest.
At dark the kids rounded up the chickens, got them out of the trees and into the
hen house.
Since the chickens were what today is known as free-range, the eggs were
frequently everywhere on the farm with lots in the barn. If you missed finding
all of the eggs, the result would be rotten, unusable ones. After several days
they were ripe for a rotten egg fight. Now I would have thought it would be
better to be in the barn loft during a fight, but my husband says being below
worked just as well. Apparently if you lobbed them up and they hit the roof,
they would splatter all over anyone hiding below.
My husband doesn’t remember getting into trouble for the egg
fights because it happened more than once. It might have been why he is able to
throw a rock further than anyone I know. Practice makes perfect?
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