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- Go to Mohonk View Farm in Winter
I hear the crunch of snow underfoot
and imagine morning after morning this same routine under different dawns, in different weathers, but inside the barn always the same.
posted by
Randir
on October 17, 2010 at 10:57 PM
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You cannot imagine the memories stirred by your post! I was brought up on a farm very similar, no running water, no hydro..and the cows milked every morning before breakfast day after day. And the pigs and chickens and goats to be fed. Wonderful poem. I'm printing it. It is so close to what home was to me. Thank you!
posted by
adnohr
on October 15, 2010 at 8:27 PM
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very vivid, Bob, and I, too, felt like I was right there....
..
...
posted by
Rumor
on October 11, 2010 at 9:32 AM
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Nice
posted by
Cheerygirl
on October 11, 2010 at 6:51 AM
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Re:scrapbook
Very kind of you, thanks! Yes, it's a lot like a scrapbook - the memories are still vivid after all these years. I wonder if there's another poem in the whole process of haying, an eye-opener for me. A lot of skills and equipment just aren't there any more, to say nothing of sheer exertion!
posted by
2902
on October 9, 2010 at 8:15 PM
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Re:winter
Thanks, CC! I had to guess at some of this, but as for the rest, my memories of that place are so rich that the poem almost wrote itself! Their family name, of all things, was "Blank". They were (to my pre-adolescent judgment) a middle- aged couple and, being Catholic, probably from Bavaria. Their faces were smiling mahogany! "Milky smell of old mudcrusted cows" is awfully good - I wish I'd thought of it! .But I DO remember the terribke smell of fresh oats - not disgusting, but sort of alien, not what you'd expect. For some time afterwards, I regarded oatmeal with suspicion. But you're right - it will soon be just a memory. I'm so glad I was able to experience it, thanks to my family. Blanks had an ad in a NY paper offering a room for $25 a week - a great way to escape the city for a few week's vacation!
posted by
2902
on October 9, 2010 at 10:54 AM
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This is so well written, I actually felt as if I was there - even looking at scrapbook photo images. Elyse *ah yes, people survived back then and with not much grumble...they knew what had to be accomplished to live.
posted by
elysianfields
on October 9, 2010 at 9:43 AM
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Yes Bob you are good at relating things, I can walk with you through those raw mornings. It will all soon be forgotten, how people relied on a rabbit to feed a small family etc., but it's your scene I leave you with chilblains and the milky smell of the old mud crusted cows Moo.
posted by
C_C_T
on October 9, 2010 at 6:52 AM
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