Families

It's curious how families change as society changes.  At one time large families were the norm.  On a farm a large family was an asset.  There was much work to be done and from the youngest to the oldest you had a chore.  My Dad was what was called then "a truck farmer".  Maybe because you needed a truck to sell your produce.  Work started on the first warm day of spring and ended when everthing had been harvested in the fall.

The planting time meant fields of tomatoes, sweet potatoes, peanuts, watermelons and cantaloupes.  The first harvest was in May when the strawberries were ripe.  They were picked, packed and shipped, going by train to some city.  There were daily chores, feeding chickens, gathering eggs, feeding pigs, milking cows and separating the milk.

There was also fun things to do.  Building a playhouse and making mud pies.  We were good at making up our own games.  We did things children today has never heard of doing.  We played much in the creek that ran through the farm and had no water in it except when there was a heavy rain.

Growing up in a large family was a blessing I like to remember.  Being the middle child there was always someone older to help me with my lessons, to come to my rescue if I was picked on at school.  We never knew what the word bored meant and when I hear kids say that today I kinda feel sorry for them.