Farm Memories

These days, it's not as common to see the rectangular hay bales any more. But this hay wagon is similar to the one that was on my uncle's farm. My uncle's was a little smaller; and there was only one side-rail which was at the front, if I recall.--It was made of wood. One of my cousins and I got to ride on the wagon as my older cousins and uncle picked up the bales from the fields. A tractor pulled the hay wagon; and when it was full, the bales were loaded into the barn for storage.

My Uncle's Farm

This is a photo of my sisters at our uncle's farm long ago. My uncle's family was there for only about 3 years, if I recall. But it was a wonderful place; and I had a chance to spend a little time there during the summers. [We were there for Christmases also.]

One of my younger cousins and I were too young to help with the farm chores much--but we got to watch and to be involved. One of the things we did was to sit on top of the hay wagon during haying time! It was great fun! [I also had a chance to follow along as an older cousin and my aunt fed the chickens; collected eggs and washed them; and made butter from the cream that was skimmed from the tops of milk containers.]

A Childhood Home

The top photo at the left shows a view of the front yard of the home where I mostly grew up in.* The bottom photo shows the house; and it shows some children playing on the swimming pool in the winter. [Don't have permission to display their faces and it's not practical for me to seek permission, at this time.--Hope this will do, for now.]

My family moved into the above home around the time that I was turning 7 years of age. But this photo was taken a few years later, after a lot of renovations were done. The property originally consisted of two acres; and there was a poultry barn behind the house which had been used for raising chickens in the past. There was also a large garden and an orchard, although the orchard had mostly gone wild. [There were a number of apple trees, two pear trees, and a cherry tree.--We did get some fruit from them.]

There was a full apartment on the second floor of the home but the main floor had consisted of two garages. The main floor was completely renovated and used for living purposes--although it took a little time. The "barn" was partly demolished and partly renovated [over time]--for storage, living, and business purposes. Approximately half of the property was sold, since we didn't need it and it was wanted by developers. Today, our former property is part of a new housing subdivision. [The old house and barn no longer exist.]

When I was 4, 5, and 6 years of age, my family had lived in the first home my parents had ever bought. It was in the city, not too far from the downtown area, but it was a very quiet and pleasant neighbourhood. I seemed to have a lot of friends there--more than I even knew of!!! [See my first blog.] It was a relatively modern neighbourhood, at the time, consisting of modest brick bungalows. [When I was growing up, I consciously and unconsciously wished we could live in a "normal" house, etc. but the second home wasn't all bad! We had a lot of space and we had bright, sunny windows. The pool was there for only a few years.]

*The faces in the top photo are mostly unrecognizable and I won't worry about them. [The individuals seem to be my family members.]