For most of my growing up years there were six kids in the family. Three boys and three girls. We moved quite frequently as my dad was first a farmer who rented his farming land and after in construction which meant he followed the work. I went to 24 schools in 12 years and the last three were in one place. We most always had a garden of some kind and quite often chickens for food and eggs. We always had a dog to travel with us. We lived on farms until 1948 and then we moved to Arizona. We only stayed a few months and moved back to Illinois to a farm. We, children, always had jobs, some around the farm or house and some other places. From the time I was twelve I bought all my own school clothes or whatever else I wanted or needed. CA sister is the seventh and youngest of us. She was born when I was a senior in high school. Wannabe is the oldest girl. She is 17 months older than I am and a year younger than our older brother. There were three kids under three years old. My dad always worked but had no more than an eighth grade education so most jobs didn't pay well. Construction paid better but was down for the winter months. My mom didn't work until we were all in school. Everyone worked as soon as they were old enough to do something. I delivered papers, babysat, and eventually worked in a dime store until I got out of high school. The boys hired out to farm work in summer. We had a good life, not rich but not so poor either and we had and have a good family. dooley
I also grew up in a small town, Darrow, Louisiana. It is on the Mississippi River about 60 miles north of New Orleans. I have lived in Louisiana all of my life. We had a mini farm going. Dad and Mom had 2 and a half acres, most of it planted in a garden and corn field. Mom also had lots of flowers planted. Some of my best memories was helping her start seeds for the veggie and flower gardens. What wasn't planted had chickens, rabbits, and hogs on it. We also raised beagles to sell. Dad was famous for his hunting dogs and people from all the surrounding states came to buy them. Most of what we ate was raised, caught or killed. We had no running water until I was 12 years old. My brothers worked that summer for the Corps of Engineers digging the trenches to lay the pipe for the water. It was very exciting for us, especially since it meant now more outdoor toilet, no more packing in water to heat for baths and cleaning, no more washing clothes by hand on the scrub board. We grew up working hard, we had to, to be able to eat, which we did very well. Dad work at the shipyard, then the sugar mill, and when all of the chemical plants started building, he worked construction. Mom was born with a degenarative bone disease and was crippled, but that never stopped her, she worked in the garden and kept the house spotless, we always had clean clothes and hot meals, but only because of her hard work. I was the youngest girl of 7 children, 4 boy, 3 girls. My brother born before me died at 4 days old. Mom was warned not to have anymore children, but birth control was not an option back then. She had no trouble with me, but my little brother was born with only one kidney and it was malfucntioning. Her story is here: http://www.gardenstew.com/blog/c529-8-p ... -life.html I left home for college at 18, met Richard and got married. I do wish I had finished school, but that is in the past and I don't like to live with regrets. I hope I haven't bored y'all too much.
Hi everyone, just registered today! I was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 18, 1940 at Mercy Hospital. My parents were poor, but as I grew up I thought we were rich, it seems I had everything. Today I live in Spokane Wa, funny how life takes you from one end of the world to another.
I am an only child, born in 1974 to a corn-wheat-soybean farmer and a mom who is a nurse. My parents farmed about 3500 acres when I was younger and we always had cattle and horses. I showed quarter horses as a youth and was nationally ranked in Hunter Under Saddle. I have fond memories of the farm and my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all involved. I miss the horses, we still are involved in the horse community through friends, but I am 35 now and married with kids, and maybe the horses will come back to me again...but for now, I enjoy my garden. God bless... these are fun to read.
I was born in Penticton, B.C. one hot August day in 1945. I'm sure that's why I love summer and the heat so much. Penticton was a small tourist town of 11,000 residents and it died in the winter but came alive in the summer. It has two lakes with sandy beaches. When I was 9, my father built a house on 1/4 acre lot that had apple, peach, apricot, cherry and plum trees on it. When we moved there my mother planted a garden for the first time. It had vegetables, flowers and roses and I loved to help her in the garden and eat fresh peas and carrots. I was the middle child of three with an older brother and younger sister. Summer months are hot there so we would get up early in the morning and preserve whatever fruit was in season at the time and then shut the house up and go to the beach as we had no air conditioning in those days. My father was a successful salesman and my mum was a housewife. We were not rich but comfortable. We played hide and seek in the orchard at night with the neighbour kids and swam in the lakes all day.....Ahhh those were the days. We walked everywhere, to school, to friends way across town, to the parks, to the beach. No one ever thought to ask parents for a ride. If we had, they would have told us to walk anyway. The walking and talking in itself was fun and entertaining. There was no crime that I can remember. If there had been we would have heard about it because it was so rare. In our teens we parked at the dam and drank beer.....no drugs. I too am a child of the 50's, still love that old time rock and roll, remember the plane crash that took Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper and another plane crash that took Patsy Cline. I live a couple hours drive from Pentiction now but never go back. It's now so big and different. It's true that you can never go home again really. I live in the country and I have always had a garden. We just moved to a new place where I will be starting a new garden in the spring and will plant another rose garden. To this day I can still smell my mother's roses.
Like Tom, I too was born in Milwaukee, and we frequented a custard stand on the south side of town called Leon's. It's still the same today, and could be right out of Happy Days!!! Here's a pic... My family always went "up north" (to the northern part of our state) every weekend to a lake property. Now my husband and I are living at the lake year round. I can't imagine ever moving back to a big city again. I'm a country girl all the way!!!
I was born in Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, Colorado in 1960. My dad was in the army. He is from Chattanooga, Tennessee & my mom was from Kingsport, Tennessee. My brothers & I spent a lot of time playing in the mountains & woods of East Tennessee, when we visited grandparents. I am the oldest of 4 boys & the youngest was born 2 weeks before my 5th birthday. In the army, we moved every 2 years, or so, but we always had gardens. My mother's father was an avid gardner and I learned it from my mom. My dad got out of the army in 1973 and we finally lived in a house in El Paso, Texas for a long time. We grew lots of vegetables & ornamentals, had horses, dogs, rabbits, lizards, snakes, cats & fish for pets & rented out some of our land to a farmer, who grew cotton, okra & alfalfa. I learned to love gardening in El Paso and my mom was actually asked to be a rose-grower for Jackson-Perkins! She had a full-time job, though & didn't grow for J-P. I went to college at Texas Tech in Lubbock (Buddy Holly's hometown) and stayed in this area. I married a girl from a small town (Idalou) and she grew up on a cotton farm and they grew a lot of their own food too. We now live in Idalou, with 2,000 other folks and we love it. I have a lot of tress (strange for West Texas) and a lot of shade, so I am unable to grow veggies right now. My dream is to move to the country and grow veggies in the sun - and plant myown forest on the other side of the house! Right now, we're "townies", living in town. My daughter will likely end up showing pigs in the annual stock shows, so we'll either board the pigs at my brother-in-law's house, or move out in the country to do so. It is generally warm & dry here, so our Summer evenings are really ice - no sweating just because you went outside! Few bugs too, due to the low rainfall (under 18 inches/yr). Gardening is what keeps me sane (to the extent that I am). I am in the top-ten of folks in town w/ water bills!
kume, I live about 35 miles northwest of Columbus. A little town called Marysville. It is known for 2 things. Scotts Lawn products. There National headquarters are here. And we have the first US Honda plant. My 3 acres is part of my parents farm.
Well I still consider myself as a kid for I am only 24. I was born right here in Orlando Florida and have been here my whole life. My mom had died when I was 10 and I moved in with my aunt who did an awesome job raising me. I have been on my own sense I was 16 years old. When I 15 I met this beautiful girl Melissa. We bought our house and got married in 2005. We just celebrated our daughters 1st birthday last week. That also was a rough journey. My wife got rushed to the hospital when she was six months pregnant,but she only look like she ate a big steak dinner. Anyway she had to go into surgery that night and deliver our baby because if not they both would die. So we were lucky to have a beautiful 1 lb 11oz baby girl who's name is Cameron. She is doing well now and is 14 lbs and full of energy. We are hoping the housing market will pick up because my whole family and my wife's family are moving out to Tenn. We hate the big city and would like some quite country on a few acres.
my folks met in Long Island as my dad was getting out of the Navy. they were adventurous and travelled cross country to Alaska where my dad pumped gas while waiting to take his bar exam to be an attorney. my mom was the Story Lady on the radio in Anchorage. i still have these huge records of her recordings. i was born in late 40's during a huge blizzard. mom and dad built a small log cabin about 20 miles from Anchorage. in those days, the main street in Anchorage was a dirt road! during the big quake in the 60's, mom and dad's chimney was the only one that didn't crack in a 20 mile radius. the cabin is still there, but surrounded by a huge mall. btw, the cabin was so small there was no room for a bassinnette(sp?) for me, so dad made a bunk-bed over their dresser...that's where i got my name, bunkie. my folks had a reel to reel camera and took moving pictures of everything, so these movies remind me of my childhood and all. there are some of my mom pregnant with my brother, digging the well for the cabin. and dad stripping the bark from the logs he cut for the cabin. lots of pics of mom's gardens, humungous cabbages and beautiful flowers. also, movies of dad pulling a rope with a cookie sheet and me on it in the snow!!! in '55 we moved to Maine for a better schooling system. by then i had a brother and a sister. we lived on 3/4 of an acre of what used to be a tree farm on a peninsula. dad and friends cleared land enough for a small house and a garden for mom. btw, dad bartered for just about everything we had with his work (attorney). in Alaska we had parkas he traded for that kept us warm. in Maine, it was mainly help building the house, sinks, gravel, etc... every thing! my dad tilled up a huge plot and mom filled it with veggies and flowers. i remember snapping beans and picking raspberries that dad brought up from his mom's place in Long Island. grandma and grandpa had a huge greenhouse and sold carnations to FTD back then. they also had a huge potato farm in back. so i get the gardening bug from both sides of my family. since we lived on the water, we picked musles and dug clams (steamers, quohogs, cherry stones) in the mud and each of us kids had our own lobster trap. we had a small boat that we'd take to the islands and have picnics. i remember putting a safety pin on the string with a piece of clam on it and dipping it in the water and catching crabs! most always while we were on the water in the boat, friendly lobstermen we knew would come by us and drop a bucket of crabs and lobsters in the boat. i do miss the seafood and the water today. we weren't poor, but when we got something it was always one thing and shared by all three of us kids. we worked in the neighboring apple orchard, picking apples for 25 cents a bushel. we also babysat neighbor's kids. we played in the fields with the other couple of kids in the neighborhood. hide and seek. mom made all our clothes, shorts, slacks, dresses, sweaters, etc... she was a great baker, too, tho as the story goes, when she met my dad, her pie dough could be bounced off the walls!
This thread was fun reading. I think we newbies ought to add to it. I'm too tired to do it tonight, but I had to post to it or I wouldn't be able to find it again tomorrow. I'm still learning my way around the site. I was actually looking for that thread that Calomaar started with the photos of lots of folks. Can anyone tell me? Thank you and rest well everyone.
