Childhood Memories (+ camwhore) (1122 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.96 on 29 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by jumpinjellyfish (View user info) at 2005-05-26 12:08:53 EDT
The summers of my childhood were spent roaming the overgrown fields and pastures of the family farm. My father and his two younger brothers had grown up there and it would have been my inheritance had my father not wanted to get as far away from that lifestyle as possible. It turned out that the second oldest son, my uncle Bob, kept the farm since he was the only one of the three who wanted it.
Bob had a machinist's job at the only factory in the nearby small town and by the mid 1960's the 20-something acres that were left of the family farm could be called a farm in name only. Bob kept about 20 cows, a few dozen pigs and chickens, and a 1/2 acre vegetable garden, tended by my aunt, as a means of providing the majority of the food on the family's table but because he worked long hours, the rest of the farm was pretty much let go.
Luckily for me, Bob had a son named Chris who was near my age. Chris and I became partners in many boyhood adventures over the years. We would get up at the crack of dawn and head out into the fields while the dew was still thick on the tall weeds that flourished everywhere. We always took our bb guns and considered everything except the cows, pigs, chickens, and the constantly changing collection of farm dogs to be fair game. After all, it was the 1960's and protecting the environment was a concept foreign to all of us.
A typical day with my cousin could include any or all of the following: a hedge apple fight, fishing either in the farm's well stocked pond or at the nearby river, or playing pirates while climbing around in the rafters of the barn where our father's had carved their initials 20 years before.
My strongest memories of that time were the 4th of July. All of my relatives would come from the surrounding farms and towns to Bob's house to celebrate. Picnic tables would be improvised from saw horses and sheets of plywood to seat the 40 to 50 people who came. Kids would be running around everywhere playing tag or hide and seek and at some time in the afternoon everyone would pick from Bob's collection of baseball gloves and bats and play a pick-up game of baseball on the enormous front lawn.
As the afternoon waned we would begin to eat. It was a time when no one counted calories and I can't remember anyone ever mentioning being worried about cholesterol or gaining weight. We would eat hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, and a family favorite called Wilted Lettuce. After that we would have dessert which consisted of numerous cakes and cookies as well as apple, chocolate and gooseberry pies. When the sun was going down we would begin to make the homemade ice cream in Bob's old wooden, hand-cranked ice cream maker. The older boys always took turns cranking the handle while the younger ones added the salt to the ice or sat on the burlap bags that covered the top.
Like most 4th of July celebrations ours ended with fireworks. The show would consist of everyone sitting on the front lawn with a bowl of ice cream covered in chocolate syrup. The show was never very fancy and usually only consisted of some Roman Candles with a few colored fountains but the ice cream always made up for it.
My aunt and uncle still live on the farm and continue to have the get-together for the 4th of July even though the celebration is limited to every other year now due to the amount of work that goes into it and their advanced ages. This year I'm making the trip with my soon to be 5-year-old daughter. I hope she is old enough to remember it because they might not be able to continue doing it for much longer.
Wilted Lettuce
Recipe By : Mrs. John B. Carrico
Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :0:45
Categories : Salads To Post
Vegetables
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
5 Cups Bibb Lettuce -- torn bite-size
2 Onions -- chopped
5 Slices Bacon -- cooked and crumbled
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
3 Tablespoons Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Water
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Dry Mustard
Put lettuce and onions in salad bowl. Fry bacon crisp and cool on paper
towel. Cool bacon grease slightly; add sugar, vinegar, water, salt, and
mustard. Pour over lettuce and onion. Sprinkle bacon on top and serve
immediately.
Serves: 6
Source: "Mountain Measures", Junior League of Charleston, WV.
ed. 1974
User Reviews
Submitted by forensicgirl3 (user info) at 2005-10-06 17:14:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Clockwork Orange prize!
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2005-06-29 23:32:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Many different reasons.
I just saw a respone of yours today on another post.
What the hell are we doing here/\?
<add12+3D's!)
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2005-06-27 19:08:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by Danger_Ranger (user info) at 2005-06-25 06:47:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
How fucking good is this. Not a question - rhetorical.
You are teh transformer!
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-06-25 06:29:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You are baking_Lady!
I KNEW IT!!
http://www.ubersite.com/u/baking_Lady
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2005-06-25 06:02:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Better late../\ than never.
Wow. 4 me:
Same time period, same 'rural' thing(Italian Mother's side), same...........
Just Wow!
Submitted by nitty34 (user info) at 2005-05-31 15:19:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Good stuff
Submitted by yermom (user info) at 2005-05-27 14:45:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
not bad
Submitted by knucklesnelson (user info) at 2005-05-26 19:05:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
you kinda look like gary busey. but not in a bad way.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-05-26 18:25:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
good stuff
Submitted by Zackstersmackster (user info) at 2005-05-26 15:56:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
What a nice story.
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-05-26 14:58:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
sounds lovely!
Submitted by Chi_Guy (user info) at 2005-05-26 14:13:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Great story. I grew up on a farm. Our nearest neighbor was 1/2 mile away. My dad sold the farm because civilization started to surround us and the city people who lived in those houses were flippin idiots. One of our neighbors called the police one day because my dad had a tractor on the front lawn. He parked it there because he was cleaning the barn. Now my father lives on a bigger farm. Unfortunately houses are starting to creep towards his property again.
Submitted by jumpinjellyfish (user info) at 2005-05-26 13:54:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by YELLOW-MAN (user info) at 2005-05-26 13:52:18 (#)
Ranking: 2
Gracias por los momentos que me tenemos compartido vamos al empalme de
la cerveza
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Te conozco?
Submitted by jumpinjellyfish (user info) at 2005-05-26 13:52:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by AshyLarry (user info) at 2005-05-26 13:42:30 (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 for Jim Thome.
-----------------------
Damn, my nephew says the same thing!
Submitted by YELLOW-MAN (user info) at 2005-05-26 13:52:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Gracias por los momentos que me tenemos compartido vamos al empalme de
la cerveza
Submitted by AshyLarry (user info) at 2005-05-26 13:42:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 for Jim Thome.
Submitted by lucid (user info) at 2005-05-26 13:38:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 Because you take a perfectly healthy salad and poison it with bacon without ever mentioning arteries, heart disease or expanding waistlines.
Submitted by DonkeyOnTheEdge (user info) at 2005-05-26 13:29:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Fireballs are yummy. One time during the fourth of July, I was eating one when the fireworks started and I almost choked. Good times..
Submitted by Loren1 (user info) at 2005-05-26 13:19:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Sounds a lot like my childhood.
Very coincidentally, I took a trip to the house where I grew up early today to take pics of the new house and barns replacing the 200+ year old buildings I grew up in.
It made me a little sad, but the house was verging on disrepair even when I was still there
15 years ago.
It sucks to grow up.
Submitted by Sassmasterr (user info) at 2005-05-26 13:17:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2005-05-26 13:07:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wilted lettuce sounds yummy
Submitted by jumpinjellyfish (user info) at 2005-05-26 13:03:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2005-05-26 12:59:59 (#)
Ranking: 2
Are you the father from the incredibles with lighter hair?
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I think my nose is bigger.
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2005-05-26 12:59:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Are you the father from the incredibles with lighter hair?
and thanks for making me think of 4th food all day.
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2005-05-26 12:49:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Aaawwwww....
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2005-05-26 12:24:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Awesome.
It's nice to be able to match a face to the name now.
Submitted by swamp_donkey (user info) at 2005-05-26 12:21:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 for awesome memories
+2 for 4th of July
+2 for possibly being older than me
BOOYA
Submitted by TigerLilly (user info) at 2005-05-26 12:21:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice.
Submitted by Pentameter (user info) at 2005-05-26 12:14:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Any kind of nostalgia always gets me.