Living Farmville

This morning as Big Ed and I were slurping down our hot chocolate and 9 grain whole wheat toast we were talking about something... and Rod said something about Intermountain Farmers and then... " It takes you back to when you were a little girl, doesnt it?" Boy a flood of memories washed over me. Namely baby chicks. When I was a small girl living on our family farm in Thatcher, Idaho we raised many animals such as cows, horses, lambs and chickens. Every winter my parents would order in new hatchlings. I believe they would be shipped in and delivered to our home. The little ones one come in crates chirping and peeping, some didnt make it. We would have to keep them warm for a few weeks as they chicklets grew. I would bet the survival ratio might have even been 2-1. The as they grew there survival ratio was even less as they became Sunday dinner. There is nothing like the smell of baby chicks. And every spring as we go to Intermountain Farmers to buy our lawn fertilzer, there it is-- BAM! That smell! So many people on facebook play with a virtual Farm. The responsibilities might be similar but the smells and sounds are missing.



Now, as soon as that memory hit me, another early memory came knocking at the door. And interestingly, without knowing it, links me back to Rod. I am the youngest of 7. And there are 5 years between me and my next oldest sibling. So they were all safely tucked in school and that left me and my best friend (my mommy) home to stir up our own trouble. I must have been her little shadow as she worked around the farm cooking, gardening, canning, sewing, taking care of the animals, plucking chickens. On occasion we would travel to Logan to purchase groceries. And when we did, we would stop at the A&W drive in. She would get a Momma Burger and a root beer and I would get the baby burger and a root beer. What a treat that was! And to think somewhere on the shores of a southern California beach, my future eternal companion was more then likely smacking down his own A&W burger.

As I have been reflecting on my days as a young farm girl today, I have to mention Mitzi. Today my best friend from childhood celebrates her birthday. I love you Mitz. Somewhere there is a picture of the two of us together at about 3 years old. You have been my sister our whole lives. You are an amazing woman. And I am so very glad that even though our lives have woven through different roads, sometimes different countries, but that we have always been there.