Homesteading inspiration? | General Homesteading Discussion | Forums

We can trace our heritage back to the 1600's in Massachusetts, there were two brothers, one went to Virginia and got into the timber business, the other went to PA and became a farmer. At one point my family owned this whole valley.

I still have some packing crates from the vegetables that my great great grandfather sold in the 1800's and wrapping paper that they would pack the celery, lettuce, etc in.

My great grandfather slowly got away from the vegetable farming and switched over to dairy farming. He built his house sqaure in the middle of the property on a dirt road and had 3 sons.

my great uncle built his home right down the road and raised his family there.

my other great-uncle never really left the family home and just worked the farm and took care of his parents.

My grandfather built his home across the street in the middle of the corn fields. He read a book on building a cement block home so that is what he did. Kind of hard to see but it sits up on the knoll to the right of our old barn.

It was kind of sad taking these pictures, my grandmother passed away a couple years ago and I took these before I headed back. No one lives on the road anymore that is named after us and the people who bought the properties no longer farms it. The property has been all broken up and sold off over the years and the original large parcel no longer exists.

Well my grandfather married my grandmother and they decided if they were going to have kids, they were going to do it right. A dozen it would be. 

They had them in groups, first came 6, then after a several year break they had 4 more. They raised 10 kids in a three bedroom ranch, there were bunk beds everywhere.

My mother was number 2 in the group, the last 4 in the group are no more than 10 years older than me, with the youngest being two years older, my mother was pregnant with my brother the same time my grandmother was.

Anyways, like most people growing up poor on a dairy farm they ate and drank what they raised, fresh eggs, beef, pig and milk straight from the cow.

My mother contracted rheumatic fever as a child, they believe it was from the raw milk but no way to be certain. The fever attacked her heart and left her valves damaged. She was told she should never have kids. 

Well she started dating my father when she was 15 and was pregnant soon after, they told her she would need to have an abortion due to her heart but she refused and my brother was born. Two years later I came along.

She had open heart surgery when I was 2, contracted pneumonia and passed away.

My father lost it, I can understand, he was a 20 year old kid with a 4 and 2 year old boy and his wife had just passed away. So we went to live with my grandparents on the family farm.

Probably some of my greatest memories from childhood are from the times that we lived with them. Playing in the barn with my aunt's and uncles who were more like my brothers and sisters because of how close we were in age.

to be continued.