Growing up a Farm Kid

I just checked out one of my favorite bloggers - thepioneerwoman.com - and today she showed photos of her kiddos helping out on the ranch.  It took me way back to growing up on our potato farm.  We were a family of 5 and we did it all.  From planting to harvesting and all the stuff in between.  It was a small operation, mom and dad scraped by and provided us with what we needed.  Some years were better than others, but we never went without.  Mom sewed our clothes, was a wonderful cook and the best partner my Dad could ever want.

We lived five miles away from town and working on the farm kept us from some things -   I never had a "friend" birthday party - my birthday fell right in the middle of potato harvest.  I spent a lot of Christmas breaks working in the potato house, instead of snowmobiling or skiing with my friends, summer was spent picking rocks and mustard and whatever else might need to be done on the farm.  My "town" friends probably felt bad for me,  but they had no idea how much fun we had as a family.  To this day, we crack each other up with stories of singing Donny & Marie songs on the harvester  and wearing sod on our head like hair.  Or the time I ran over the cute neighbor boy with the rock cart (don't worry, he was ok!) 

My parents worked hard and from them I developed a strong work ethic.  I will forever be grateful for my growing up years.   Today the farm is bigger, computerized and for the most part the jobs we had as kids are gone.  Except for the time honored tradition of picking rocks.  Three or 4 kids, walking behind a tractor pulling a cart, picking up rocks in the field and chucking them in the cart.  It's usually hot, dirty and seems like torture at the time.  If you are lucky, someone brings out milkshakes at least once or twice.  You earn a few bucks and make tons of great "remember when" memories.  I'm so glad all my nieces and nephews are picking rocks this year.  I love that at least one part of the farm work that I did as a kid has not changed one bit!