Stories from the Kitchen on The Farm by Cousin Debra

An early family portrait, but certainly not 1923...maybe 1933? 

Stories from the Kitchen on The Farm, by Cousin Debra

My mother, Katherine, was born in the farmhouse in 1918; fourth among the Healey siblings. I was born in 1958 with my first memories of visiting The Farm from the early 1960’s. I have a vague recollection of the cows still being there, before the herd was sold. There are specific moments that come back, one being how hard it was for tiny me to negotiate the beyond steep “back” stairs. It was a vertical climb on hands and knees. Coming down those stairs was next to impossible! My circuitous route upon arrival was to climb up the back stairs and then run through the house to the front stairs to go back down. The farmhouse was a wonder to explore.

The earliest pictures I have of the kitchen table at the farm.  These were taken at Christmas time in 1954. 

The kitchen was where the family spent much of their time, especially when my mother and her siblings were growing up as it housed the coveted wood stove; source for cooking and the only heat during the winter months. The tradition of spending time in the kitchen carried through to family get-togethers as the years went on.  During the 1960’s and early 1970’s, I visited with my mother’s siblings and my cousins enough to have heard these stories more than once. I can still hear the booming embellishments and hardy laughter. I am sure my memory of these stories may vary slightly from those of my siblings and cousins so I hope you will share how you remember these precious moments in time…

Cousin Debra

Beware the Pitchfork!

The daily routine of the farm work included the biggest meal of the day at noontime followed by Grandpa Harry taking a nap before the afternoon milking. One morning Mom, Aunt Betty and Uncle Sonny were out haying. When it reached the time to break for the noon meal, their custom was to line up their pitchforks stuck in the ground where they left off. This day, when Aunt Betty threw her pitchfork into the ground, it went right through her foot! My mother yanked the pitchfork out of Aunt Betty’s foot and when she went to thrust it into the ground, she stuck it through her own foot! As the story goes, Uncle Sonny had Aunt Betty on one arm, Mom on the other as they both hopped on one foot all the way down to the house from the field. The remedy? They said, “Oh, Mother just got out a couple of pieces of salt pork to put on our feet. That took care of it…”

Horse Nonsense

My mother’s first memories of going to town were in a horse and buggy. Sometimes I find this hard to believe, but then I remember that my Grandfather Harry (not my Great Grandfather, my Grandfather…) was born in 1869! My mother’s childhood years were the 1920’s and high school was the early 1930’s. Things were still pretty rural during her first decade; no electricity or indoor plumbing. 

Milking of the cows was by hand and the milk cans transported by horse and wagon; sleigh in the winter. Plowing of the fields was done with the horses as well. There was a particular horse whose name I can’t remember, would apparently stop in the middle of a field and would not budge! It was said that if someone went by on the road, “Daddy would jump down and pretend to be fixing the harness so whoever went by wouldn’t know the horse was not budging!” Hmmm… Good old Yankee pride.

One summer, one of their horses died “down in the lot across the street.” Somewhere near where Bungay School is now, I think. It was July; hot, humid and mosquitos biting. Someone went down in the evening to bring the horse water and found it dead. They had to bury it. It was Mom and I’m pretty sure Aunt Julia, perhaps Aunt Betty who were sent down to dig the hole by lantern. It was so hot and humid that they were only wearing bras on top. My mother was in high school by this time (early 1930’s) so there were cars that would come up Bungay Road with their headlights on. They would jump in the hole they were digging to get out of the lights. They managed to bury the horse that night. The following morning, they said they found all four legs sticking partially out of the ground. Apparently, they didn’t quite dig the hole big enough. Their solution was to saw the legs off and bury them. Good old Yankee ingenuity…

Julia on a horse.

Tapping Sisters

My mother and Aunt Betty were a tap-dancing duo during the early 1930’s. They did housework for a neighbor to make money for their lessons. According to Mom, they were frequently called upon to dance at functions in town including the high school and the grange. My grandparents were members of the grange with the meeting hall in Oxford which is still there. Mom used to tell me that Grandma Amelia was quite good as an actress. If there was a play going on at the Grange and someone became ill, they would call Amelia and she could learn the part “like that.” The performance gene… 

THE story, however, was when Grandpa Harry took Mom and Aunt Betty to perform in a local Speakeasy. I believe I remember her saying it was in Derby. With prohibition ending in 1933, my Mom was 15 years old or younger. Mom and Aunt Betty “danced for free beer…” Those were the days! I sure wish I had known Grandpa Harry in this lifetime… He crossed over in 1956, two years before I arrived here...

The Old War Horse

There are many stories of when autos came on the scene and I believe the first car Harry and Amelia bought was a Ford Model T. Perhaps my older siblings and cousins can remember the progression of vehicles purchased. I do remember talk of the “Old War Horse” which they called the Willy’s Knight they owned at one point. I am not sure exactly what year their model was. There was only one license in the household and it was Grandma Amelia’s. They said, “Everyone just carried that license…”

There was a story Aunt Julia told about her being “parked and hanging out down by the river with friends.” I believe she said that she was only 12 or 13 years old. “A cop pulled up and asked me for my license and I didn’t even have Mother’s!” She proceeded to dig in her pockets pretending to look for her license, finally shrugging and saying to the cop “I guess I must have left it at home, heh, heh.” Aunt Julia said, “The cop let me go and didn’t do a thing, heh, heh.”

A 1931 Willys Knight photo courtesy of Debra Lynne via_____

Julia and Kay 1939 Anyone know anything about the car behind them?

Bill, Sonny and Pete in 1944.  Read more about Sonny and Julia's 1936 Plymouth HERE