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One of my fondest memories as a kid, growing up in Alabama, is our
trips to the farm in Washing County. The
farm did not belong to us but to my mother’s sister, Aunt Mae and her husband,
Uncle Doug. Just about, every Thanksgiving or Christmas, we would load up the
car, along with our grandparents and my mother’s brother and his family that
lived next door to us and took the drive to up the country. Up the country was
by way of Highway 43, a two lane paved highway at that time, leading northward,
away from Mobile. This was fine until you met a slow moving vehicle or farm
equipment. Dad would then weave in and out to the center line to see if there
was on-coming traffic. If not, then you would floorboard it and pass as fast as
you could to keep from hitting oncoming cars. You knew you were getting close
when you saw the old barn roof on the left hand side of the road that read, “See
Rock City”.
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The trip was approximately 50 miles from our house but seemed like an
eternity for a kid waiting to see the open spaces of the farm with cows,
chickens and sometimes a horse. The journey did not end when we reached our
turn off. Aunt Mae and Uncle Doug lived close to two miles back in the woods.
Reaching their home meant traveling a single lane 2-Rut dusty road for those
two miles. Dust would infiltrate the car from every possible crack in the car.
Everyone would roll their windows up to keep out as much of the dust as
possible. Cars did not have air conditioning at that time, at least at my hose,
so everyone road with the windows down or cracked for ventilation, this
included the little triangle vent window on the drivers and passengers side of
the car, which pushed out. This was, also, the longest 2 mile ride from the
highway to the end of the road where the farm was located. You knew you were
entering the property when you reached the cattle-gap, cut up train rails spaced
apart to prevent the cows from leaving the property. A long downhill curve to
the left led you to their red brick home, under some large trees. The farm had
roads and trails leading to various areas from the house. Out behind the house my uncle Doug had built a
large barn which opened with large heavy sliding wood doors. The barn housed
equipment and feed while the loft was filled with hay this time of the year. To
reach the barn, you had to pass through the chicken yard. The barn was enclosed
on two sides with milking stalls and other bins for storing equipment or things
like dried corn. To the left of the front of the barn was a well with a pitcher
pump attached, to fill the watering tub for the various animals that passed by.
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My Uncle Doug was truly a salesman, if there ever was one, you could
say a Con-man, in that he would invite us city cousins up to the farm in the
summertime. His invitation was always, “I’ll let you drive the tractor”, what
kid wouldn’t want to drive the tractor. He kept his word and always let us
drive. Makes you wonder if our country cousins were thinking how stupid we were
for doing things that were every day, normal for them. Uncle Doug did not mention we would, also,
have to pick peas, install and repair barbed wire fences through the wood and
swamp. Not to mention Red Bugs and Tics. Aunt Mae was always glad to see us and
we her, unless she was getting after one hers with the Fly Swatter and she
should miss and hit me.
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The aroma of food was always coming from the kitchen. Aunt Mae started
before sun-up with breakfast, then farm chores, usually way to early for this
city boy. I would follow my cousin Larry out to milk the cows and of course, he
tried to teach me this skillful art. “Put my hands, where?” There was always a
cat around to catch an intentional squirt.
One of my Uncle Doug’s favorite sayings, that I remember, was, “Early
to bed, Early to rise, makes you healthy wealthy and wise.” On the farm night
time meant night time. It was darker here than I had ever seen before and
loader than the sounds of the city with an enormous choir of critters and
whippoorwills making their night time sounds. It made it hard for this young
boy to get a restful sleep. My Aunt Mae would put us boys on a number of old squeaky
spring beds, placed around the basement. Now, I grew up in a home where my Dad
enjoyed watching horror movies. Every Saturday night we sat together to enjoy
Frankenstein, Dracula and the Weir wolf while mom went to bed. I swear I heard
all of them, along with the squeaking of the springs on each bed while they all
slept soundly. As Bill Cosby said, “Monsters can’t get you under the covers”, I
guess he was right. That is where I stayed until, I guess, fainting from fright
and waking up to the smell of an Old fashioned Country Breakfast, upstairs. It
didn’t matter that the sun was still asleep. I didn’t have to put my clothes
on, I slept in them.
I could go on and on but time passes, we all grew up, then off to
college, work, or Viet Nam, to different parts of the world. By the Grace of
God, we all returned to marry and raise families of our own. Our parents have
since taken their places with their Heavenly Father and we are now the senior
adults with grown children and grandchildren.
Ginnie and I woke up one morning…, which is a good thing. She had seen
some decorations using Deer Antlers and asked if I knew where she could get
some. I knew of one possible place, so I sent a message to my cousin Carolyn,
to see if she knew the where about of any deer antlers there on the farm, for
Carolyn and her husband, James, had moved from the city back to the farm and
built a beautiful house in one of the upper pastures. She messaged me back,
informing us that she knew where some were and would love for us drive up for a
visit. Ginnie had never been to the farm before and was excited to have the
opportunity to visit and also get some deer antlers.
Two days later, Ginnie worked a half day while I washed the Jeep and
put the top down, since we were headed to the country. I picked her up and off
we went. The two lane highway is now a four lane highway and the dirt road to
the farm has since been paved. The cattle gap is gone, there are no more cows
to escape but the road down the hill to the old home place is still dirt.
Other siblings have returned to their roots on the farm. Ella and her
husband John have built a beautiful home on the north side of the pond. It
looks like a Southern Home Magazine Cover, especially with all the Oak leaves
changing color. We continued past their home further up the single lane dirt
road to the north pasture where we arrived at another Country Living Magazine
cover home, surrounded by pine trees in the front and thick woods in the back, only
the sounds of the Bugs and Whippoorwills.
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James dismantled his old home place and has installed the old pine
flooring in their country paradise, here on the farm. A wood stove fireplace
centers their living area on raised brick. The accessible wood bin in the house
has a life size movie cutout of John Wayne in his cowboy duds guarding this
corner. No one would enter knowing John Wayne was the alarm system. We moved
from the inside to a red rocking chair lined front porch. Ceiling fans were
spaced the entire length to make a breeze if one was not rustling through the
Oak leaves. We spoke of our children, our parents, our retirement and just
general conversation before heading off to the barn in search of deer antlers.
On our way to the golf cart for Carolyn and Ginnie or the 4-Wheeler for
James and I, we stopped in to investigate their honey processing room in an out
building. All the gadgets and gizmos for processing honey were inside. While moving
towards the barn through pathways and across other pastureland, we passed the
collection of Bee Hives buzzing and busy with their own honey production.
Arriving at the barn where my cousins and I had played hiding go seek
over 50 years earlier, was just as exciting now as it was then. James gave
Ginnie some deer antlers and then we climbed up the steps into the old hay
loft. The hay was gone, but the memories still lingered from my childhood. Ginnie
had been raised along the beaches of Panama City, Florida, so a barn with a hay
loft was as good as visiting the Smoky Mountains, for her. We then walked over
to the Old home place. Ella had arrived with her camera not living very far
away, to see the rattlesnake, my cousin Larry had laid out across the tailgate
of his truck. We had earlier heard the gun shot after Ella and John spotted it
as they were walking around the grassy banks of the pond. Ella called Larry to
bring his gun to remove the venomous snake. Ginnie would only view from a
distance and hoped this was not going to happen again today. Another brother
had driven in from Mobile to spend time at the old home place, this is Harry.
Harry had retired from the hardware business. While in college, Harry called
one day. He had gotten two tickets to see “Jesus Christ Superstar” and had
invited me.
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We then hopped on 4-Wheelers and golf carts and rode to a place I had
never been before. My Uncle Doug had named this cabin South Fork. It seemed as
if we had stepped back in time. After more visiting at South Fork, we headed
back to the load the Jeep with Ginnie’s new found treasure of deer antlers and head
back to the city. Carolyn and James needed to get home and get ready to meet
friends. On football nights, they enjoy watching the local high school football
game; we were climbing in the Jeep, when Carolyn did as had been done many
times before by her parents. Before pulling away, they fixed us a goody bag of
peas, jelly, figs and a bottle of James’” Scuppernong Wine. Being very
grateful, Ginnie and I headed home, having enjoyed every minute with everyone
living on the farm.
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All Photography By:
J. Cartier B&W Photography
Freelance Photographer
Daphne, Alabama
(251) 490-3212
jcartier.com
Send your comments to
jcartierphotography@ymail.com
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