Farming Heritage Memory Book

As I reminisce and compile my memories of a childhood on the farm, I consider how I'll put this together for future generations of my family.  Since I come from a farming heritage of parents, grandparents and great grandparents who grew up on farms and eeked a living from the land, I want my daugthter, grandchildren and future generations to know from whence they came.  This is their heritage, too.

Eventually I'd like to compile these blog posts and other memories, along with photos, into a Farming Heritage Memory Book for my descendants and those of my sister and brothers.  Perhaps others will enjoy reading about them, too....to reminisce about their heritage or just to learn about earlier life in our country.

Are you starting to write down your farming memories?  Or keep a journal or blog if you're currently farming?

Sharing a Farming Heritage

As I browsed through my first copy of Mary Jane's Farm magazine, I began to reminisce about my farm girl heritage. I grew up on a dairy farm in the Hudson River Valley of New York State during the 1940s and 50s.

Even though those memories are ingrained in my mind and form part of my heritage, my daughter and grandchildren, nieces and nephews won't know about them unless I record the stories in some form.

My husband grew up on a dairy farm in New Hampshire, as did his father. My parents came from farming backgrounds in NYS.

Although we don't live on farms now, the years of childhood shaped our lives and character. They instilled a work ethic that has taken us through the decades.

Photos of the farming activities bring back memories, as do writings of my parents and grandfather.

I'd like to share these memories and experiences with those who enjoy reading my blog. Perhaps you'll realize the value of your farming heritage, too.

(Image; sxc.hu)

Memories of a Farming Heritage

Since my daughter and grandchildren didn't grow up on farms as my husband and I did, nor have had the opportunity to spend much time on one, I've started a blog to collect some of the memories of work and play that have given Jim and me our backgrounds to cope with life.

Dairy farming as we knew it, in general, has gone the way of large corporate farms. But I wouldn't trade my childhood and teen years as a farmer's daughter for any other life. Sometimes we wondered, as youngsters, if the hard work was worth it. But, for the most part, we simply accepted it as our life and realized we had it much better than so many other youngsters.

Sometimes, though, we couldn't understand why our friends liked to spend time on the farm with us, helping with work and staying in a house that wasn't as modern as theirs. They seemed to enjoy their hours spent with us.

(Image: sxc.hu)