Category: Book

“All you need in this life,” said Mark Twain “is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.” We had a full measure of both. We realized to be satisfied with our own opinions and our scant farming knowledge was a sure recipe for continued ignorance so we sought and accepted good advice hoping to increase our ability. We found in order to be practical in farming that we must have a sense of adventure, believe in research, be willing to ask questions and to listen, and that perfection comes by slow degrees. Fortunately too, we found that a sense of humor does much to ease tensions. Nothing is so difficult, no thing so grim, but it relaxes before a hearty laugh.

...continue reading "Chapter Seven"

The harrowing experience that I now divulge might well be labeled—“Operation Loading Sow.” When I recall the incident I still become weak and a little nauseous. A pig had been included with the stock that came with the farm. For two long months, three times a day I had been carrying food to her, keeping her comfortable with fresh, dry straw and getting no thanks in return. I kept wondering—how long, oh Lord, how long can this continue? We had been advised by experts that she was much too fat to breed and also too fat to butcher. We had been hopeful of raising a litter of pigs so that we could get the larder stocked with our own produce as fast as possible. Our diet that first spring was very inadequate, we had no home canned foods or cured meats on the shelves and this made the planning of meals difficult. Due to the war the two of us did not have enough ration stamps to buy the meat, butter, sugar and nourishing foods that we sorely needed because of the hard work we were engaged in and the physical energy we were expending.

...continue reading "Chapter Six"

Having spent all of my youth and formative years in the country and Al having come from a small village in Pennsylvania, we were well aware that new people in a rural community are always watched carefully, judged, usually criticized, invariably found wanting and made the butt of much humor and gossip by the local populace. We were no exception and a move such as we had just made afforded the natives a rare chance to match wits in being Tellers of Tall Tales. It took much longer than I would have thought to be truly accepted. The term ‘Newcomer’ which is always applied, has a tendency to stick and even after twenty-five years we found occasions when the term was still being applied to us by some of the older folk. Lest I be misunderstood let me hasten to explain that once one has passed the initial tests and has not been found wanting, one is accepted and all of the inherent friendliness and hospitality, the neighborliness and helpfulness, is generously extended as we on many occasions had reason to fully realize.

...continue reading "Chapter Five"

Except for an occasional emergency those first days now seem slightly hazy and blurred. Soon we were physically bone tired and more or less in a state of shock, but imbued with the will to learn, survive and succeed. We slogged along in desperation, keeping a stiff upper lip. After a week we were alone and assuming full responsibility. We learned to distinguish between the various cows, both in appearance and temperament. We came to know that with care, attention and consideration, all animals show a tremendous amount of intelligence. They respond almost in direct ratio to the way they are treated. A milk hauler arrived early each morning to pick up the milk and we made a point of having it ready and waiting. With our purchase we had inherited fifteen milk cows, four heifers, two young calves, a bull, a team of horses, a sow, about fifty lying hens and a rooster. In addition to this there were some pieces of obsolete machinery, all horse-drawn, old and having seen much better days.

...continue reading "Chapter Four"

Al had telephoned me before I left New Rochelle, to tell me that he had been successful in purchasing two milking machines, that they were installed and the cows were being broken in to the change from hand-milking. This, of course, had been a necessity, inasmuch as during his lifetime he had never even thought about the possibility of being called upon to hand-milk a cow. In the course of some past conversation I had inadvertently mentioned that while on the farm in Canada, reputedly I had been considered a fast and good hand-milker—but little did I expect that on this, the first evening, I would be put to the acid test.

...continue reading "Chapter Three"

Within a week of our new vocation we had put our New Rochelle property on the market, had advised our offices to look for replacements and our families were told of our earth-shaking decision. Their reactions were far from encouraging. They were quite disenchanted with the whole idea. However, they did nothing to dissuade us, and over the years members of both of our families gave us a lift both physically and mentally when they visited us.

...continue reading "Chapter Two"

It has been said that the desire to be a farmer is inherent in every boy. The magnetism of the countryside, of nature unfolding her beauty and wonders with each changing season, of trees and plants growing and maturing, of the privilege of observing animals at work and at play—all of this is compelling. In most instances the boy outgrows this desire at the same time that girls decide to give up dolls. However, in my husband’s case the yearning did not diminish with maturity, it accelerated.

At the ripe age of thirty-eight, fresh from the soft life of a desk job and domiciled in Westchester County, New York, he made the transition and we landed on an unimproved dairy-farm in upstate New York. His lack of knowledge of agriculture was offset by the fact that he had a degree in civil engineering, a keen and alert mind, a Pennsylvania Dutch heritage of stability, a tenacity and determination to meet all challenges head-on, and to succeed.

...continue reading "Silo Saga"