today i'm stuck down memory lane. i was very lucky to grow up on a hobby farm. and right now with spring just around the corner, flowers beginning to bloom (out here, yes.. they are)... i'm feeling even more nostalgic.
we didn't do any farm work really. we had the big vegetable garden though, and a huge laundry line, even a split-rail fence. (love that).... and a lot of space. i miss it very much...
i was one of those kids who learned to drive on a tractor. we really only used our tractor to mow the fields... (where we'd have our huge bonfires).
we also only heated by wood. so chopping wood, and stacking it were big jobs. at one point i even knew what kind of tree the logs would be from just at a glance, and a decent idea of how they would burn. and my mom would always have a cinnamon, or orange type potporri bubbling on the woodstove...
i even remember one year our family decided to try to make our own apple cider. we rented a very old cider press and it was freezing out! it was october.. but i'm sure it started snowing. we had to pound the apples into the press (which was so loud as it ran by generator) one by one, strain the pulp, boil the jugs,oh goodness what a memory! haha. we made so much apple cider! of course, we must have complained a lot because every year after that we just bought the apples and sent them off to a cider-press to have them made. ha. then we'd have warm, cinnamon-y apple cider all year long. and we'd sip it by the woodstove, while our feet and hands would thaw out.
i've been living in cities now for over a decade... but i really feel like i'm a country girl at heart. and you know, one day..... i know i'll have my dream home out in the country. it won't be fancy or anything. but we'll have space. it will be quiet. i'll have my laundry line... and my vegetable garden. i've asked for a sheep... but so far i'm not getting very far with that. ha.
i can still smell the sheets when they would come off the line... really, you sleep much better when you're wrapped in bedsheets that have been dried outside, in the sweet smelling air.
this definitely puts me in the mood for spring. i'll even request a sunroom, where my gals can come and sew to their hearts content. and we'll knit by the fire.
...one day... and until then, i'll be plotting my balcony garden, and trying to air dry clothes as much as i can in the small space i do have... as for the woodstove well we'll just have to get camping :) xo
are you getting excited for spring? do you have any memories that you hope to one day relive? what things are you most looking forward to for the spring? i'd love to hear about it! come chat. ... i'll pretend to put another log on the fire.... and we'll sip our coffee. xo
Ooh I loved this post. I grew up in saskatchewan and my grandparents lived on a farm. I have so many happy memories of being there. The beautiful fields, gathering eggs, counting cows on my grandfathers tractor, the fuzzy pussy willows, ETC. It would be nice to be out in the country again. I try to be content with my balcony garden too! Definitely not the same though.
ReplyDeleteoh yes i absolutely agree! there's just something about farm life, hey? i don't even think i mentioned in the post... but i grew up in ontario... xo
DeleteOh yes there is just something about it. Sigh :). & that's neat, I've lived in ontario since I was 13!
Deletewhat a small world! my family now lives in the ottawa area.. and we moved around a lot.. but the memories of the cider making come from near lake erie. :)
DeleteRebecca these are my most favorite posts of yours, they are a little window into your world and they are seriously the reason I read! Love them, keep 'em coming :)
ReplyDeletethanks jane! xoxo
DeleteWell I was raised as my mother says "by a cityfied farmer" which is true. My daddy loves the privacy of the country but couldn't last without the conveniences of the city. I always thought that I was a city girl at heart, I dreamt of living in an apartment with a dozen neighbors and some big job...but then I met the man of my heart and low and behold I've been transplanted into the country. At first I wasn't a fan but now I can't imagine my life anywhere else...thought from time to time I dream about moving down South to be an onion farmer...or watermelons...not sure which :)
ReplyDeleteHowever, for all my longings to be a farmer's wife I can't grow anything but a baby...I have ZERO luck with plants...actually that's a lie I have NEGATIVE luck...plants cower when they see me at the store, I literally hear them beg me not to buy them. Still I love that you love to grow things and that you can.
thanks buffy! it isn't every year i get much of a harvest if any though... from my little balcony. but i'll keep trying! i do miss the country so very much though... sigh. xo
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