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Book Ideas:  Tales of our forefarmer Sisters  |
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damajana
Farmgirl at Heart
3 Posts
Jana
Albuquerque
NM
USA
3 Posts |
 Posted - Sep 10 2012 : 12:21:30 PM
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| Having grown up in so. Idaho on a farm/ranch, it's in my blood. Altho I'm an urban farmer in NM now and a grandma, I live the life and find myself drawn back to my roots of homesteading and pioneering women (and men). Their stories entertain me, but even better, inspire, encourage and strengthen me and I thirst for more. If not a book idea, perhaps a regular magazine topic with sisters' submissions of their stories of grandmothers, mothers,foresisters, etc. Many of our younger sisters don't have a direct source of days gone by. There is so much to learn from our forebearers and their "normal" lives! I hope this will be considered and I can't wait to find what's up in my next issue of MJF. Thanks. |
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Bear5
True Blue Farmgirl
13055 Posts
Louisiana/Texas
USA
13055 Posts |
Posted - Sep 10 2012 : 1:45:29 PM
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Good idea, Jana.
Marly
"It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth- and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up- that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had." Elisabeth Kurler-Ross |
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garyw965
True Blue Farmgirl
51 Posts
Gary
Hemet
CA
USA
51 Posts |
Posted - Sep 13 2012 : 6:09:44 PM
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| That's a great idea! We need to make sure our grandchildren know where they came from. |
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littlegirl54
True Blue Farmgirl
61 Posts
Connie
Rio Linda
California
USA
61 Posts |
Posted - Sep 15 2012 : 10:18:15 AM
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I agree. I remember reading some stories from my grandmothers, and how they have helped instill the desire for creativity in me.
Life's too short to sit in a box all day. Get out and do something creative.
Connie H.
Farmgirl Sister 4152 |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - Sep 19 2012 : 11:14:01 AM
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This is a good idea. I like the books that tell pioneer stories too and farmer stories. I have one about the pioneer women of Kansas in the 1800's. It is fascinating.
Farmgirl #31
www.blueskyjeannie.blogspot.com
Psalm 51: 10-13 |
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HodgeLodge
True Blue Farmgirl
662 Posts
Tiana
Berkeley Springs
WV
USA
662 Posts |
Posted - Jan 13 2013 : 06:11:36 AM
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Is there a like button on here? I love this idea,and practice it with my grandchildren.My grandmother had a victory garden, and made all her own salves, cough syrups, and bread etc. She raised chickens to help my grandfather (commercial fisherman) pay the bills. She is my inspiration, as one day I pray I will be my grandchildrens inspiration. To put that in a book or magazine would be awesome.
The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses. ~Hanna Rion
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Nana Shirl
True Blue Farmgirl
352 Posts
Shirley
Kit Carson
Colorado
USA
352 Posts |
Posted - Jan 13 2013 : 07:45:52 AM
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Oh I so agree...lookin for the like button...My gma had her home remedies too..Great idea!!
You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me. ~C.S. Lewis |
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Penny Wise
True Blue Farmgirl
1903 Posts
Margo
Elyria
OH
USA
1903 Posts |
Posted - Jan 14 2013 : 06:46:35 AM
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i enjoyed kathleen shoop's the last letter published about 2 years ago- she has others advertised in MJF as well....
i do agree that articles or a complilation book would be great- kindof oral history type stuff....
i know that as part of my genealogy i spent hours online one day reading letters from a mother to her daughter in another country- describing a wedding dress and including a swatch of fabric since there was no "camera" ---wasn't my family but was fascinating!
Farmgirl # 2139
proud member of the Farmgirls of the Southwest Henhouse
~*~ counting my pennies; my dreams are adding up!~*~ |
Edited by - Penny Wise on Jan 14 2013 06:48:51 AM |
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HodgeLodge
True Blue Farmgirl
662 Posts
Tiana
Berkeley Springs
WV
USA
662 Posts |
Posted - Feb 06 2013 : 04:45:04 AM
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Guess we all better preserve our memories on paper for all to see in the future. I want my grandaughter to have that sense, and maybe reading a letter to my daughter about her wedding dress. Not just to find something on the computer. I love the antiquity of the past letter writing. Guess that's why I have a few penpals. If you don't have one, there is a place on MJF to sign up for one. I encourage it.
Farmgirl #4817-The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses. ~Hanna Rion
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Hodge-Lodge-Clothesline/285366378259342
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sonshine4u
Chapter Guru
1205 Posts
April
New Prague
MN
USA
1205 Posts |
Posted - Feb 06 2013 : 4:14:31 PM
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I too love reading all about the women who were so valiant as pioneers. So many things the did every hour of the day and we never even think about now. Especially how their whole life was wrapped up in making sure they all survived happy, healthy and whole! :)
~Hugs,
April
Playing in the Sonshine
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HemetGardener
True Blue Farmgirl
573 Posts
Terri
Hemet
CA
USA
573 Posts |
Posted - Feb 07 2013 : 10:11:55 AM
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Yes, please write or tape your stories and maybe we can convince Mary Jane to publish a book about the farmgirls' family histories and stories.
My mom lived in Anaheim, CA next door to a lady who lived to be 96 and did she have stories to tell about how they owned a ranch close to town that is now a super busy intersection.
They also took a wagon load of oranges to the people who were affected by the 1933 Long Beach, CA earthquake.
I would have loved to hear more.
Terri |
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Rejena
True Blue Farmgirl
149 Posts
Rejena
WY
USA
149 Posts |
Posted - Feb 08 2013 : 5:11:54 PM
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This is a great idea. We are new to Wyoming, but have found such a wonderful source and connection to the land. There are folks here who are direct decendants of the folks that homesteaded the land they now live on.
Being from Pennsylvania it was unusual to be stock of folks that 'founded' the town where we lived. There weren't many of us left even though everyone was having 6 to 10 kids back then. The move was WEST and now we have joined that journey. It has been a wonderful experience and one I am so thankful I get to share with my children and husband.
The folks here in the prairie and Grasslands are full of stories of wonder and hardship, but the interesting thing is these topics are not separate, they are usually directly interwoven and make the story all that more potent!
Jena
Wilds of the Grasslands
Wyoming
Sold the Farm, Moved to Wyoming.
New landscape, new frontier! |
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HodgeLodge
True Blue Farmgirl
662 Posts
Tiana
Berkeley Springs
WV
USA
662 Posts |
Posted - Feb 09 2013 : 1:35:35 PM
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Good idea Terri, We all have so many memories too. I did post my dad's people were farmers from Tenn. ( my mom couldn't stand to visit there lol) My grandparents (Daddy Monk & Verna Mae)had pigs and a horse, and chickens. She couldn't find my little brother one day, and the pigs were very excited and making lots of noise, and she thought the pigs ate him. My best memory was of my grandfather walking his old white mare to the town picnic with one child at a time on the horses back. It was the highlight of the picnic for me. I should write more of this on my facebook blog.
Farmgirl #4817-The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses. ~Hanna Rion
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Hodge-Lodge-Clothesline/285366378259342
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Oggie
True Blue Farmgirl
526 Posts
Ginny
Machias
Maine
USA
526 Posts |
Posted - Feb 09 2013 : 1:58:24 PM
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A great idea. Since my father died when I was nine, we moved in with my grandparents while my Mother put herself through college. Also under this roof was my Aunt and cousin because her hubby died before my cousin was even born and my great-grandmother lived there for a time also. So I was blessed to be in a home with 4 generations and learned a great deal being the only girl. Their home was on a dead end road in the Country but close enough to wour small town for us kids to walk over the railroad bridge into town. I have three brothers and my cousin is also male so I was the tomboy who had to learn girl stuff. What I wouldn't give to have everything written down today that my elders were trying to teach me.
Ginny
Farmgirl #2343
www.thedewhopinn.com
www.etsy.com/shop/cybertiques
www.etsy.com/shop/thedewhopinn
"I always have a wonderful time, wherever I am, whomever I'm with."
"Well, I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it." Both by Elwood P. Dowd (Jimmy Stewart) in the Movie Harvey
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HemetGardener
True Blue Farmgirl
573 Posts
Terri
Hemet
CA
USA
573 Posts |
Posted - Feb 09 2013 : 2:09:30 PM
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I love the stories my grandma used to tell about living on the farm in Iowa. My uncle Merle was always trouble so when Grandma couldn't be right there to watch him, she clipped a strap (leash?) to him and attached him to the clothes line. They lived near the train tracks so that is justifiable right?
Terri |
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HodgeLodge
True Blue Farmgirl
662 Posts
Tiana
Berkeley Springs
WV
USA
662 Posts |
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MtnGrlByTheBay
True Blue Farmgirl
171 Posts
Erin
Lexington Park
MD
USA
171 Posts |
Posted - Feb 11 2013 : 05:44:38 AM
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This would be good for a different reason. See, I've got a bit of a generation gap. My parents both grew up on farms... and hated it. Most stories I get are negative ones. I value the tales of others.
^^^I'm a RidgeRunner, and will always feel best when surrounded by the PA mountains.^^^
www.lastlapgang.com |
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HodgeLodge
True Blue Farmgirl
662 Posts
Tiana
Berkeley Springs
WV
USA
662 Posts |
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ceejay48
Farmgirl Legend/Schoolmarm/Sharpshooter
13617 Posts
CeeJay (CJ)
Dolores
Colorado
USA
13617 Posts |
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HemetGardener
True Blue Farmgirl
573 Posts
Terri
Hemet
CA
USA
573 Posts |
Posted - Feb 13 2013 : 5:16:24 PM
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CJ,
Start recording those stories for posterity. I would love to hear some of them.
Terri
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MtnGrlByTheBay
True Blue Farmgirl
171 Posts
Erin
Lexington Park
MD
USA
171 Posts |
Posted - Feb 26 2013 : 09:11:47 AM
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HodgeLodge, I'm never really sure. They don't like to talk about it. When they do, it's more like a "this is what we did," without any sort of fondness or nostalgia. More matter-of-fact. For Dad, he isn't very sentimental, but will laugh at some farm and/or hunting stories of his past.
My mother, especially, "went without" for many years. She married my dad when she was 18, and it seems like her life didn't really start until she was about 28 when she bought a plot of land from my Granddad, and built a house on it. She has memories, and she respects how she was raised, but there is not any sort of fondness. To her, it was all hard.
I know very little about my heritage because I guess I never had the maturity to ask, and my parents didn't like to talk about it. They have more of a "we are here now and can plan for the future, but can't change the past" kind of mentality. Up until just this past weekend when I happend to find a 100 year old journal of my Great Grandmother's that I even knew her name, and that I apparently have a German Heritage! I was pleasently suprised that my mother kept it. After reading some delicate pages of it, it prompted some tales. She had to explain some of the farm terms to me, and that was fascinating.
Like, I read a passage about bagging or canning beans in January. I didn't understand how they had beans in winter. Mom told me that they were actually dried, and they thrashed them on the barn floor, and then sold them. There were also a couple entries about "making a waist" for this girl, or that girl. I didn't understand the phrasing. Mom said, it was not like a "waist" of a skirt, but more like an undershirt because they didn't really wear much of a bra in those days. There were also entries of young children dying of mumps or scarlet fever. It was part of this conversation where I learned that my mother, her sister and her brother, were the only 3 that survived, but that my grandmother actually had 2 or 3 more children that died. Again, this was all said as "matter-of-fact." There wasn't any sadness. It was just a way of life. It's this attitude that made my parents encourage us kids to go to college and get out of "farm country." They knew the hardships and wanted better for their children.
It's just the term "better" is debatable. Is my life better because I got off the farm? I ask myself that question every day.
^^^I'm a RidgeRunner, and will always feel best when surrounded by the PA mountains.^^^
www.lastlapgang.com |
Edited by - MtnGrlByTheBay on Feb 26 2013 09:18:58 AM |
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Bonnie Ellis
True Blue Farmgirl
2474 Posts
Bonnie
Minneapolis
Minnesota
USA
2474 Posts |
Posted - Mar 01 2013 : 08:57:59 AM
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Great thread. My stories on the farm when I was little included the "tramps" who would come in from the rr and ask for a meal. Grandma said she always fed them because she knew what it was like to have nothing. She said she knew of a former slave who had no legs and rode around on a pallet with wheels. She felt so bad for that lady. I never did know her name. Many of us grew up with an out house, a chamber pot, wood stoves, work horses and bread-making every day. What wonderful smells could come from those. But as my grandparents, uncles and aunts got older and easier ways of doing things came about, they jumped at the chance. My clothes were all sewn either by hand or on a treadle with feed sacks for fabric. I am a quiltmaker. I have repaired and restored many old quilts and love to touch the cloth and wonder who made this and for whom. But I love my indoor toilet, hot running water and sewing machine, and I still sew by hand, cook from scratch and read from a book.
grandmother and orphan farmgirl |
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HemetGardener
True Blue Farmgirl
573 Posts
Terri
Hemet
CA
USA
573 Posts |
Posted - Mar 01 2013 : 11:31:49 AM
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Erin, Have you thought about turning that journal into a book?
Bonnie, I love old quilts too and I have one my mom made in 1930 and one my grandmother made about the same time. I also have a quilt a neighbor of my mom's gave to her and I ended up with it. That neighbor, May, was about 95 when she died in the 1990's. She and her mom had made that quilt in the early 1900's and it is batted with real wool.
Such a treasure.
Terri |
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HodgeLodge
True Blue Farmgirl
662 Posts
Tiana
Berkeley Springs
WV
USA
662 Posts |
Posted - Mar 02 2013 : 03:11:11 AM
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Erin, I'm with Terri it should be a book, or at least a great thread on MJF every couple of days. In those times life was hard. My mom said they didn't know they had it bad or worse than anyone else because they were all the same. My grandmother gardened, and raised chickens for eggs and meat, but my grandfather was a commercial fisherman after he got out of the Navy. The lived on Long Island and were very poor. My grandmother also worked at the rich peoples houses doing laundry, ironing, and taking care of their houses, and babies. All my moms siblings worked at home making money for the family too. They kids sat in a circle in the hallway and shucked the clams and oysters my grandfather bought home. They got a nickle a quart or something like that. They went in their backyard and cut down christmas trees, and sold them, and made wreaths. That was their Christmas money. My mom never complained she said she loved the way she grew up. Gives her a deep appreciation for life now. So much.....I and all on this thread could go on and on. We just have to pass on to our grandchildren and children what we have learned. I am trying. I have 3 grandchildren living with me right now. They just got out of the service and looking for jobs and a place to live. I give the babies 9,7,and 3. chores and projects to do. We planted seeds in toilet paper rolls, and when the seeds came up, you would think they have never seen a plant before. Very rewarding. Come on spring so we can put it in the ground. Tiana
Farmgirl #4817-The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses. ~Hanna Rion
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Hodge-Lodge-Clothesline/285366378259342
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brightmeadow
True Blue Farmgirl
2045 Posts
Brenda
Lucas
Ohio
USA
2045 Posts |
Posted - Mar 02 2013 : 05:37:08 AM
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I am so glad you brought this up. I recently purchased, and am now enjoying, a book of memoirs written by a farm woman who lives very near my dad's farm. She is now in her 80's and reading the book brought back so many memories for me of people and place near my hometown. She tells stories of milk deliveries, people getting cars stuck in the field while "parking" and her husband having to pull them out by tractor, murders and other mayhem. She tells of driving the tractor and finding flint arrowheads in the plowed rows, and many other memorable moments of farm life. My sister mentioned that another older woman from our church also recently published her memoirs. Don't overlook this source of farm stories. Many "golden-ager" clubs sponsor classes for memoir-writing and may be able to direct you to local authors.
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands - You shall be happy and it shall be well with you. -Psalm 128.2
Visit my blogs at http://brightmeadowfarms.blogspot.com (farming) http://brightmeadowknits.blogspot.com (knitting) or my homepage at http://home.earthlink.net/~brightmeadow |
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mustangmomma
Farmgirl in Training
10 Posts
Becky
Princeton
MO
USA
10 Posts |
Posted - Mar 06 2013 : 6:54:50 PM
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| I saved the letters I received from my Grandmother back in the early "80's when I started my family and wanted to collect information from a seasoned elder. She told me (at 95) how she could remember standing by the coal stove in the kitchen, in winter, while they lived on a potato farm in Wisconsin. I told her I was washing my sons cloth diapers by hand on a scrub board using green soap every morning by 8am because my washing machine was to old to handle doing extra laundry twice ( I was picky, wanting the diapers to be real clean). I'm glad I spent time writing to her when I did . . . she passed at 97. God Bless her. So don't hesitate to write or record what you can while you can. |
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Book Ideas: Tales of our forefarmer Sisters |
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Tales of our forefarmer Sisters
