Tidbits
Owen, our loyal friend Tracy, and I are headed to shearing school in Ithica this weekend. We hope to learn the ins and outs of successful shearing and hope to show it off on our sheep very soon. Check back next week for a report back.
Our eggs will now be available at the Tivoli Bakery on the weekends. Get there before they sell out.
On a more personal note: My great uncle Larry and great aunt Patsy are two of the greatest people I know. When I was growing up they lived at "the farm", out in the country outside of Tulsa. I spent many a holiday out there and loved going there to spend time with them and enjoy their beautiful land. It has brought Larry great joy that I have developed a love of the farming life. He follows this blog more loyally than anyone I know. He has become a bit of star himself these past years. He was featured on Antique Roadshow with his roulette wheel and he was featured on StoryCorps' blog. He spins a mighty fine yarn. Below is an email that he sent to me. In my own meager and humble way I working for a life that is grounded, self-sufficient, and meaningful, much like the life that he grew up experiencing. I thought I would share his thoughts here.
Patsy and I have so much fun reading about your experiences at Awsome Farm, I just had to write you.
I do so cherish my memories of my Grandmother and Grandfather. I called them Grandma Mac and Paw Mac, their name was McDaniel. They raised eight children, five girls and three boys. My mother Carrie was the next to oldest, so she always felt she raised all of the kids.She always claimed that they had outlawed slavery but that did not keep parents from raising more hired hands. They had forty acres of very rich farm land in the Mississippi River bottom in the South east corner of Missouri. As I remember Grandpa Mac planted 10 acres of cotton, five acres of corn and five acres of oats or wheat. The other 20 acres were woods that furnished all the game of squirrels and rabbits and Raccoons. My Uncles were all hunters and sold hides and they ate the squirrels and Rabbits.
They had two milk cows and a team of mules and a couple of sows to raise a litter of pigs to butcher in the Winter. They also raised a very big garden and canned their food on a wood stove. They raised everything that they needed. They kept the butchered hog in the smoke house which was attached to the back of the house. Grandma would go to the smoke house and slice off some side meat which was the bacon she would slice and cook for breakfast. The hog had ham and pork chops and pork roast. I got to see one hog butchered and hung in the smoke house. I never got to see how it was cooked and smoked. It would last from year to year. I watched my Grandma twist many a chicken heads off and she would pick them up and dip them in very hot water to clean them. It seemed to me that Paw Mac always chopped the head off of the roosters. I remember some of the Rooster would chase us kids and we were always happy to see them get their heads cut off.
Paw Mac would grind the corn for the chickens, Feed whole corn to the cows and hogs.The hogs also got slop which nowadays would be going down the garbage disposal, back then it was feeding the pigs and making them grow. I would always wake up when Paw Mac would start stirring around the house. His first duty was to start the fire in the old wood cook stove. So Grand ma Mac could start breakfast. He always milked the cows in the morning as he went to the barn to feed the hogs and mules.
Mom told me that Grand pa would bring one old mule to the house so she and her older sister could ride him to school. When they got to school they would turn him loose and he would go home because Grandpa would not feed him or the other mule till he got back. It was two miles to school.
Our eggs will now be available at the Tivoli Bakery on the weekends. Get there before they sell out.
On a more personal note: My great uncle Larry and great aunt Patsy are two of the greatest people I know. When I was growing up they lived at "the farm", out in the country outside of Tulsa. I spent many a holiday out there and loved going there to spend time with them and enjoy their beautiful land. It has brought Larry great joy that I have developed a love of the farming life. He follows this blog more loyally than anyone I know. He has become a bit of star himself these past years. He was featured on Antique Roadshow with his roulette wheel and he was featured on StoryCorps' blog. He spins a mighty fine yarn. Below is an email that he sent to me. In my own meager and humble way I working for a life that is grounded, self-sufficient, and meaningful, much like the life that he grew up experiencing. I thought I would share his thoughts here.
Patsy and I have so much fun reading about your experiences at Awsome Farm, I just had to write you.
I do so cherish my memories of my Grandmother and Grandfather. I called them Grandma Mac and Paw Mac, their name was McDaniel. They raised eight children, five girls and three boys. My mother Carrie was the next to oldest, so she always felt she raised all of the kids.She always claimed that they had outlawed slavery but that did not keep parents from raising more hired hands. They had forty acres of very rich farm land in the Mississippi River bottom in the South east corner of Missouri. As I remember Grandpa Mac planted 10 acres of cotton, five acres of corn and five acres of oats or wheat. The other 20 acres were woods that furnished all the game of squirrels and rabbits and Raccoons. My Uncles were all hunters and sold hides and they ate the squirrels and Rabbits.
They had two milk cows and a team of mules and a couple of sows to raise a litter of pigs to butcher in the Winter. They also raised a very big garden and canned their food on a wood stove. They raised everything that they needed. They kept the butchered hog in the smoke house which was attached to the back of the house. Grandma would go to the smoke house and slice off some side meat which was the bacon she would slice and cook for breakfast. The hog had ham and pork chops and pork roast. I got to see one hog butchered and hung in the smoke house. I never got to see how it was cooked and smoked. It would last from year to year. I watched my Grandma twist many a chicken heads off and she would pick them up and dip them in very hot water to clean them. It seemed to me that Paw Mac always chopped the head off of the roosters. I remember some of the Rooster would chase us kids and we were always happy to see them get their heads cut off.
Paw Mac would grind the corn for the chickens, Feed whole corn to the cows and hogs.The hogs also got slop which nowadays would be going down the garbage disposal, back then it was feeding the pigs and making them grow. I would always wake up when Paw Mac would start stirring around the house. His first duty was to start the fire in the old wood cook stove. So Grand ma Mac could start breakfast. He always milked the cows in the morning as he went to the barn to feed the hogs and mules.
Mom told me that Grand pa would bring one old mule to the house so she and her older sister could ride him to school. When they got to school they would turn him loose and he would go home because Grandpa would not feed him or the other mule till he got back. It was two miles to school.
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