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SUMMER AND GOOD WEATHER meant lots of work and hectic times on our farms. Farmers always have an eye on the weather, and this was instilled in us at a young age. When work was done, and we had a play time we often took a rest and lay on our backs in the grass and looked up at the sky. Up there is an ever-changing scene and on a clear day with big puffy clouds it was irresistible not to search for animals, people or other shapes lurking in those clouds. By the time we argued over whether it was a horse, a cow, or a dog, it would transform and the whole thing was gone. Our imaginations went wild, and it was always a fun form of entertainment.

My grandfather kept our attention with his sayings and ways of predicting weather, and he constantly said them until we were sure to know them. We learned the high, wispy mare’s tails clouds that predicted rain within about a day. A mackerel sky had slightly lower clouds that looked kind of spotty and meant it would rain in less than 24 hours, particularly if the cows were lying down in the field. If there was a “red sky in the morning, sailors take warning” and if there was a “red sky at night, sailors delight.” Those red skies in the morning often brought bad storms by late afternoon.

During the day we watched the sky and checked the wind direction to see if thunderheads were building up or a sudden change in wind might clue us to coming rain. Then we would be racing to cover the loads of hay with heavy canvas tarps and tie them down tight to the wagon posts. At the same time, the men would be baling up dry hay and trying to get it into the wagons and into the barn. We all had a job at these times. I usually got to climb the wagons and tie the canvasses. As I got older, I might have been raking the hay for the person baling or hauling hay back to the barns. During this we always watched the sky. We had to fill the barns with hay each year so there would be enough hay for the cattle during the winter. It was vital to our existence. If the dry hay got wet, it would turn black and mold which made it inedible or could possibly make us and the stock sick to breathe it. Another problem was that damp or green hay could spontaneously combust and burn down a barn. If the black ruined hay was left on the field, it would smother the grass beneath it and decrease the amount of hay obtained at the next cutting. In a good year we might get three crops of hay from a field. Read more…

MEMORIES GO BACK to our dairy farms where we had annoying fly problems all summer. In the early 1950s my father sprayed the porch and barns with DDT until my mother convinced him not to. She was a registered nurse who read about the latest environmental concerns and was very protective of her young family. In later years she shuddered at what children had been exposed to during those times and wondered the harm that may have been caused. We went to less poisonous sprays and repellents to protect stock and us.

Courtesy of NYS DEC

In the house we used fly swatters and those ugly sticky fly papers hung up to catch them. There were some versions of these papers and traps in the barns to reduce spraying. Some flies bite us, and flies in general carry bacteria, viruses, and diseases, including TB, salmonella, cholera, dysentery, hepatitis, meningitis. They can cause food poisoning and more. In fact, the Orkin Pest Control Company says, “Every time a fly lands, it sloughs off thousands of microbes….” It is good to keep food covered and wash hands and surfaces.

My favorite natural fly controls are birds, frogs, and reptiles which I encourage outdoors around my home, including snakes. One bird, a barn swallow, may eat more than 60 flying insects/hour. Phoebes help clean up flies on my porch. Deer are often seen running at full speed trying to evade biting deer flies. They painfully bite to cut skin, including ours, to get blood. To facilitate the blood flow, they inject an anticoagulant which contains bacteria and may cause itching or possibly a severe allergic reaction. Some flies lay eggs on or in their host which develop into larva that eat from the host. Ugh. Read more…

CHILDREN GO THROUGH PHASES of bad dreams and nightmares. Mine were about old water wells and my mother, with good reason, instilled the fear. We had two behind our farmhouse. One was possibly the original 1700’s well dug into the shale hill behind the house. This was a shallow basin only a couple of feet deep and fed by a natural flow of spring water which never went dry.

The other well was many feet deep. She led me into the small concrete house that covered it and we peered down into the dark water surrounded by laid up field stone. I could not see the bottom and it was a damp, terrifying place.

I was taught where more old, uncovered deep wells were located around the area, often near old house foundations. Getting out would be nearly impossible. Read more…