Down Home on the Farm
Both my grandparents were farmers. Grandpa Bare was retired by the time I came along. Grandpa Miller operated an active farm with the most modern equipment of the day. My mom and dad purchased a farm when I was a baby. Nine years of my childhood were spent on a working farm.
By "working farm" I mean we had chickens, pigs, cows, horse, dog, cat, gardens, and fields to tend. Corn, beans, wheat, oats, potatoes, and a large variety of foods for the family were planted, tended, and harvested.
We tilled the ground. Hauled rocks out of the field. Carried water when necessary to irrigate. Chopped (in those days we called it "Hoed"—though the word Hoe now seems to mean something quite different) weeds and pulled good soil around the roots of plants.
Snakes, spiders, groundhogs, polecats, wasp nests, crows and a few other things were afflictions to be endured or conquered to ensure a harvest. Long hours in the fields were necessary. Cows had to be milked by hand and the milk carried home in open pails without a lid. Chickens had to be guarded against weasels and foxes. Put the chickens up at night safe in their house. In the day let them out to scavenge for food—no store-bought grain for them.
Home was heated by a wood stove. Wood had to be chopped. Much of the work was done with an axe and maul. Manual. Sharp axe. Hard work. Dividing large pieces of wood into sizes that would fit into the Warm Morning Stove.
Baths, I do mean personal, were taken in a Number Ten tub in front of the Warm Morning Stove. Warm water was carried from the kitchen and poured into the tub. Girls first. Boys second. Not even a thought of girls and boys being in the room at the same time.
My first job at age five was to carry kindling into the house for the Warm Morning Stove. Kindling was the smaller little dry sticks that helped to get a fire going. I was not old enough to handle the axe. Bigger brothers did that work.
Dad was pastor of a country church and co-owned a sawmill business with one of his brothers. Mom ramrodded the home operations when Dad was away. Seven children and farm work left no time for Mom to get pedicures and manicures. I am not sure if she knew what a beauty parlor looked like. No television in our home. We worked and went to church.
When we sat down to eat we had before us foods that we had all worked hard to provide. From the bread, to potatoes, to pork loin or beef steaks, to milk, etc., we had labored. God had blessed. We harvested. The cellar was full of food. The granary was stacked to the ceiling with corn, etc., for the winter, and the smokehouse was where various pieces of ham were kept waiting to be brought to our table.
By now you may be thinking that I have drowned myself in nostalgia for this article. You may be thinking that I am longing to go back to simple days and simple ways. Let me assure you that neither of these thoughts is true. Those days included an outdoor toilet with a hole in the ground—try going outside into the dark to use the restroom at three in the morning when you are eight years old! No way! I do not want to go back.
But I do want you to know that a lesson is being written to you about Down Home on the Farm. We each had a job to do. Each of us doing our job was necessary for the family to be safe and well. Whether young or old we worked. We took advantage of the good seasons to prepare for times of hard weather and adversity.
Our country is in a mess. People are discouraged. Folks are nervous. Some folks are foolish to think the government is going to save us. Oh how foolish they are.
Government is necessary. Without government society would be less than feudal, primitive, violent as in the days of Nimrod. Despots would rule. Cruelty would be the order. Hear. Hear. Government is necessary and godly.
Now you get it. God. God is what holds it together. God is the resource. God is the power that overcomes evil. God is order. God is the one who sent Jesus to save man from desperate and foolish destruction.
Jesus declared He would build His Church (Matthew 16:18). The Church is the glue. In these days wise people will hear the call to honor the Sabbath and keep it holy. Wise people will find themselves loving the fellowship of the Church. Being together in corporate worship. Finding a place to serve the Lord and not calling it work.
It is a privilege to labor for Our Lord. It is a joy to know that we are providing for the family. We do not work as if a whip is laid to our back. We work with love as volunteers to make sure the Family Is Well!
From the farm,
Pastor Bare
Luke 19: (We will work until Jesus comes)