Time spent going to school in a horse-drawn school van in the 1950s produced good memories but also some bumpy ones
In the 1950s, a teenage cousin from Michigan came to visit us in Manitoba. Seeing her first horse-drawn school van, she came running with the news: “The gypsies are in town!” Back then, the term was not considered a racial slur. In fact, my cousin admired these itinerant folks who travelled about and enjoyed a […] Read moreStories by Alma Barkman
Meat supply was more hands on in the old days
Farm families who wanted to eat meat once had to kill and butcher an animal and then figure out how to make it last
I watched a young woman at a supermarket surveying the various cuts of meat, all nicely trimmed and packaged in their Styrofoam trays. I strongly suspected she had no idea what it takes to bring meat from “farm to fork,” as a popular slogan goes. When I was growing up in the 1940s, it was […] Read more
New student’s goal was to be ‘gold star good’
The author’s first-day-of-school jitters were soon replaced by a quick understanding of how the system was going to work
My interest in making mud pies in the playhouse had waned, netting minnow fish in the little creek behind our house was no longer a challenge, and I had a great longing for real, live playmates. When I pestered Mom why I couldn’t begin school at age six like all the rest, her answer was […] Read more
Country roads once created motoring challenge
Sand, mud and worries about bears all made life interesting when navigating the rural roads of the author’s childhood
John Denver’s song, Take Me Home, Country Roads recently did just that — in memory. On our farm, leading through the bush to the field beyond was an abandoned lane. It was the path my mother and I walked when taking lunch to Dad when he was combining. Compared to the scratchy hot stubble teeming […] Read more
Troubled conscience leads to sweet forgiveness
Author discovers that it’s never too late to make things right, no matter how trivial the transgression might have been
On warm Sunday afternoons, a crowd of relatives often gathered for a potluck picnic in the shady front yard of our farm. My aunts arrived cradling casserole dishes between padded oven mitts. Others toted large cake pans covered with checkered tea towels. As a four-year-old, I could hardly wait to see what sort of desserts […] Read more
Bites by the gardening bug keep the itch alive
Toiling in the garden all summer can bring aches and pains, but gardening also produces rewards that money can’t buy
When we built our house several decades ago, the echo of pounding in the last nail hadn’t yet died away when we turned our attention to the garden plot out back. It didn’t look like a garden plot. The dirt near the house was packed so hard by trucks delivering concrete that for days of […] Read more
When Grandma visited, the kitchen came too
The author’s mother always came prepared when she visited from her home in the country, ready to cook up a storm
She came to the city at regular intervals, carrying her battered old suitcase. Grandma never knew what it was to pack her bags. Even if she had all the time in the world, she would wait until the Greyhound bus was about ready to leave and then hastily toss the essentials into her suitcase. Invariably […] Read more
Creepers and climbers help cover cantankerous conflict
“So what do you want me to do with these weeds?” asked my husband, Leo. “They are not weeds!” I replied indignantly. “They are Virginia creepers a friend gave me. I want them to provide shade along the south side of the carport.” “Humph! As if that’s ever going to happen.” “Not as long as […] Read more
Rhubarb’s curse is also a blessing
This virtually indestructible plant’s desire for space can make it difficult to manage, but the bounty is hard to ignore
The ancient prophet Isaiah aptly described a typical rhubarb patch when he wrote, “in the day you plant it you carefully fence it in … but the harvest will be a heap.” Truer words were never spoken. Rhubarb is practically indestructible. It can be pounded to a pulp by a July hailstorm, flattened by an […] Read more
Early training instills cow whisperer qualities
Time spent in the barn with Mom as a youngster came in handy later in life during an encounter with a ‘difficult’ cow
Whenever I watch the TV ads featuring dairy farmers, I remember the time when, as a preschooler, my mother would take me with her when she did the milking. I liked it best of all when the days were short and the lantern I was entrusted to carry made patterns of light in the snow […] Read more
