The Old Homestead

After running errands in Appleton, I was cruising up French Road, looking at crops to see what's coming up.  Once a farm girl, always a farm girl.

Then I saw it, a rummage sale sign.  And not just any sign, it was a sign at the farm where I grew up.  Without thinking more than a second, I pulled into the driveway.  I was less interested in the sale, and more interested to see what the old place was like.  I hadn't been there in at least thirty years.

Of late, I have been dreaming about that farm and more specific, I have been dreaming of the woods on the far east of what was then an eighty acre farm..  I used to pick wildflowers there in the spring, disappearing from the house for hours as I happily wandered through those trees.  It was the beginning of my love affair with nature. That time has been returning to me in the night.

But I found out from the current owner of the house that the woods were now owned by a well to do family who built a house there with a long lane.  They don't welcome visitors.  Did they save the glens where the hepatica and bloodroot used to grow?  Do they still have sugar maple gathering?  Do they cut their own Christmas trees?   I don't suppose I'll ever know.

As for the homestead, there are so many changes.  The circle drive that went around the house was truncated to make an attached two car garage.  There are new windows, a deck, and other changes.  What happened to the porch where my mother's morning glories grew?  Gone, like so much.  I didn't even ask to go inside. Some things are best left to memory.

The barn looks the same from the outside, but it no longer houses cows.  The "shack" that we used to play in is gone.  In the Great Depression, it housed a hired man.  Later it was a chicken coop.  After that, we cleaned it and took our toys in there. Gone are the lilac bushes as are most of the trees my grandfather planted.

There's still an orchard there, and I remembered how I used to sit in an apple tree, hidden from the view of my mother, and eat green apples as I read my favorite books.

I talked to the owner, learned some neighborhood gossip, and bought a straw hat that I can use on my trip this summer. And that was it.

I don't think I'll dream of the woods tonight.