What follows is part two of my conversation with Grandpa about the farm. Read Part I here. I split it up in two because the first was an introduction to why they bought the land. This one will focus on the improvements they made and how they spent their time there! Again, I wrote it in first person and this is definitely not verbatim what he said.

After mowing 40 some acres of land all the time we decided to plant some trees. We planted 2,000 pine trees with the idea to harvest them for lumber as a source of income. There were also 500 black locusts planted but the deer ate them all. Black locusts are perfect trees for posts. After 12 years they make the best posts for fences and the like. But deers also apparently love them. So, yeah. *takes a sip of warm beer

We also had a guy come and dig the pond for us. If I remember correctly it’s about 8-10 feet deep, but I might be wrong. “D”’ [Grandma] planted daffodils around it. *side note: they still bloom every Spring

At the cabin we had electricity and running water, but the water from the well was heavily ironed. So ironed actually that I remember making cups of coffee and ending up with sledge at the bottom of the cup! So keep that in mind if you [me] think about digging another well.

The cabin had bunks for everyone. It was a pretty tight fit for all 5. We used the plastic plates that came from frozen meals. Back then they were a lot nicer than they are now! *side note: I am still finding these plastic plates buried in the ground

I brought a ton of tires to the farm that I was planning on using to help with erosion, but didn’t get around to doing all of it. *side note: that’s why there is a giant pile of tires by the shed Around the mid-80s I bought a ‘84 Rambler Wagon for parts, because I really loved my Wagon and wanted to be able to fix it when needed. The parts car ended up staying at the farm for awhile though. It might still be, actually!

That car is still there, sort of. Down in one of the gorges I kept finding odd car parts, like a seat belt, a car door, seats. When I mentioned that to Grandpa he said “Yep, that’s where I parked it.” So the slow decay of time and weather eventually broke the car down. Now I can practice my pipe dreams of being an archeologist at an ancient dig site.