Saturday, January 21, 2012

From One Generation To Another

I love old things.  In this day and age of cheap, plastic, throwaway items, it's refreshing to find something old and solid, that was made to last.  Most older items were made with care right here in the United States.  They were functional, beautiful, and purposeful.  What a wonderful combination!

Outside on the farm, and inside the farm house, old items abound.  They aren't valuable antiques that sit on a shelf, just good old items that are priceless to us.  Many have been passed down from one generation to another. 

One of my favorite items in the farm kitchen is my Great-Grandma Bessie's earthenware bowl.  In the 1940s and 1950s, she normally used it to make cottage cheese in each week on her farm.  Today, I use it for everything from muffins to meatloaf.

Every time I get it out of the cupboard, I see her face and feel such a strong connection to the past.  As I mix and stir, my hand rests firmly on the edge of the bowl, just where hers used to sit.  For a brief moment, I imagine that our hearts touch across the years; two women happily preparing good food on the farm for their families.  As I cook, I tell my daughter Elizabeth stories about her Great-Great-Grandma Bessie and her famous hot rolls and fried chicken.

Elizabeth has joined me as I'm writing this, and says that I need to mention one of her favorite old things.  She loves to cook as much (or maybe more!) than I do.  At five years old, one of her most prized possessions is her 1955 Better Homes and Gardens Junior Cookbook. 

Whenever we're undecided about what to make for supper, she usually whips out this little red and white checkered book and begins searching for ideas.  She is also very enamoured with old children's stories.  Right now, we're on our second read of The Boxcar Children, which was published in 1942. 

 Elizabeth and I with our treasures.  My mom made our vintage style aprons. 

Another treasured old item inside the farmhouse was given to us by Joey's mother.  It is a small blue ledger dated 1946-1947.  Our farm has been in Joey's family for well over 100 years.  This particular ledger was kept by Joey's Great-Great Grandfather J.T. Lovelace. 

Reading the old entries in this ledger reminds us that we are not the first, nor will we be the last, to care for and improve this land.  We take this responsibility very seriously and use organic practices and common sense methods to keep the land healthy and strong.

Each colorful entry in the ledger tells an amazing story all it's own of hard work, integrity, and good stewardship.  Here are a few:
-Two Bales Cotton (sold for) $305.00
-Bought 75 White Pullets - $14.00
-Bought 1/2 interest in a car - $150.00
-Had a Pond Built - $18.75

When I asked Joey what his favorite, old, outside farm item is, he laughed and said, "Everything we've got is old!".  When I pinned him down to choosing one item, he said that it would have to be the 1947 Ford 8n tractor.  He enjoys the 8n because, after 65 years, it's still doing exactly what it was designed to do - make the farmer's life easier.

 Joey and his Grandpa Howard on the old 8n around 1986. 

His second favorite outside item is his great grandma's old wheelbarrow.  Joey's great grandma was known to everyone as "Granny".  Granny was a true blue farm lady and grandmother.  Our farmhouse stands in the very spot where her house stood, and part of our garden actually was hers. 

Joey loves her wheelbarrow for gathering and washing potatoes.  Every summer of his life, he and his family have dug the potatoes, put them in the wheelbarrow, and sorted and washed them under the big oak tree in the backyard.  The tradition still continues today. 

 Joey and Elizabeth using Granny's old wheelbarrow to wash potatoes.

At our farm, inside and out, old things are still alive and well.  Time seems to slip away and the years between the generations grow hazy as you return to a simpler way of life.  Elizabeth runs happily across the same fields that her Grandma Charlene did when she was a child.  Joey's hands work the same soil that his great-great grandfather did.  I enjoying watch them out the farm kitchen window while I'm stirring up a cake or a batch of cookies. My hand rests on the side of the earthenware bowl as I stir, and I smile and begin to sing, "In the Garden", which happened to be, Grandma Bessie's favorite song. 

*After reading the above article, you can probably tell, that one of our favorite decades is the 1940's.  We recently found an incredible project created by Joe Wertheim.  You can check it out at http://victorygardenoftomorrow.com/.  We love his work!

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