Tag: rural life

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Thinking Ahead

ellenparkerwrites

Are you tired of cold, dreary winter? Do you long for sunshine and warmth?

Take heart! Spring is coming. One month minus one day from today.

When you reach mid-spring, the Wisconsin apple trees with put on a show. Orchard owners will be walking among the trees, checking blossoms. Bees from either rented or owned hives will be dancing from tree to tree with precious pollen on their legs. I get a little warm, cozy glow in my heart just thinking about the beauty of row upon row of blooming trees.

Until then, you will need to use your imagination. As an aid, I suggest reading a book with a spring setting. Hiding Places takes place in June and offers a sweet romance between a wannabe orchard owner and a culinary student with her own set of problems. City meets rural in this marriage of convenience tale. Click on the link to find the Kindle edition. https://amzn.to/2Jm26GQ

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Important Space

ellenparkerwrites

In the small towns, and some crossroads, in the American Midwest, a church is an important space. Often a village will have one or more church buildings which hark back to the beginnings of the settlement. Or…a newer building will serve a congregation founded a century or more in the past.

Frame, brick, or stone, these small buildings serve to draw the community together for important occasions.

It is in a space similar to this, in the sweet romance, Seed of Desire, where Beth Cosgrove puts on a brave exterior and sings a solo at a funeral. Follow the link to find out more about this accountant and dog breeder as she confronts both joys and sorrows. Fear not, the dogs are heroes. https://amzn.to/2RDFgxH

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Driving Lesson

ellenparkerwrites

One difference between the author and the heroine she wrote at the time of their first driving lesson was sixteen years. Another difference? Mona Smith, age 24, did not have trouble reaching the clutch. Somewhere in her additional years, her legs grew.

Fear not, motorist. Neither of these lessons (real or fictional) took place on a highway.

Note the padded seat. So very welcome when one hits a pocket gopher mound in the field. Simple enough for an eight-year-old. Left foot = clutch. Right foot = brakes. Adjust throttle with right hand. Pause to shift. Large hazard — jerking the clutch tends to dislodge passengers (either standing on drawbar or on attached wagon.)

Check out the sweet small-town romance, Hiding Places, for an account of Mona’s driving lesson. Plus many other things that make June a memorable month at the apple orchard. Follow the link for more details: https://amzn.to/2Jm26GQ

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Farmyard Green

ellenparkerwrites

Full disclosure: I’m prejudiced in favor of one brand of farm equipment due to influences in my childhood. I’m aware others may prefer other colors.

It grabbed my eye on the library shelf. I checked the dimensions and smiled. Yes, I felt up to the challenge.

Regular readers of this blog are aware I grew up on a farm. Yes, this is the brand of machinery both my father and a neighbor favored. I learned to drive on a model like the one in the foreground. The neighbor owned the model on the right. A few years before retiring from farming, my dad purchased a smaller model of the series in the middle.

We, or any in our small community, did not own a sheller (for corn) also featured. Most farms had a pickup truck, and I can’t recall any without one or more dogs.

For a touch of rural/small town romance — try Starr Tree Farm. The farm grows Christmas trees and hosts a few moments of suspense one January.

Link to Kindle edition: https://amzn.to/2zqIQEw

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The House on the Corner

ellenparkerwrites

Today, on the eighth day of November, we highlight the blessing of HOME, beginning with the eighth letter of the alphabet.

Home. Does the word give you a warm, pleasant feeling. Or do you recall a house filled with more tension than love? Is your first thought to a childhood home? Or perhaps you prefer to think of where you raised your children. Is it people? Or a place?

Unlike many of my elementary and high school classmates, I did not live in the same house my entire childhood. Then again, we only moved once during those years — from “the brick house” on main street in the village–to “the farm” located four miles of paved road outside of town.

“The Farm” consisted of more than a house. Yes, the two-story frame house with basement and small porches was where we slept, ate, and spent some time together. But the farm was more — if you look behind the maple tree (which contained a bee hive) and the taller elms, you can see the tall barn and the granary. A red chicken coop and/or hog shed (same building served both purposes at various times) in the background and the white brooder house (for young chicks) near the maple tree completed the primary structures. Much time was spent in all of these buildings. It varied by time of year. However, the barn — with morning and evening milking — was a constant.

Do I remember the house with fondness? Not with the degree of joy for the more encompassing “The Farm”

Looking for a romance set on a Midwest farm? SEED OF DESIRE introduces three cousins keeping the tradition on their grandfather’s, and great-grandfather’s piece of land.

Kindle: https://amzn.to/2RDFgxH

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Celebrate the Harvest

ellenparkerwrites

Belated Thanksgiving Wishes to Canadian readers!

Growing up on a small farm in the upper Midwest, the end of November always seemed rather late to celebrate the harvest. Grain was usually cut, thrashed, and stored by early September. (Some years it was a race to finish late in August before the free labor – children – returned to school.) The final crop of hay followed close behind. Corn, our other crop at the time, often was cut and/or picked in October.

I live farther South now — not tropical, but enough miles to change the seasons a little. (Global warming plays a part too.) Houseplants come inside late Sept or early Oct — before frost nips at the tips. Gardens are tapering off — a few peppers and tomatoes hang on for the excellent gardeners. Apples, pumpkins, and root vegetables are ready for picking and digging during October.

The puzzle artist stylized a harvest from days gone by — perhaps you can find elements of your childhood in the scene. Did you grow up rural? Or take a fall drive to admire colorful leaves and end up at an orchard?

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New England Trio

ellenparkerwrites

Shall we take a journey to the Northeastern portion of the United States.

In school, we were taught New England consisted of six states. I’ve managed to set foot in all six, two of them twice, three visits for two others. Fond memories of the trips return the days I drink my coffee from any of these three mugs.

These three have much to offer the visitor. I’m not a snow skier, so my visits were at other times of the year. June — when children have been released from school was a popular time for vacation. When not required to consider the school year — September became a favorite travel time.

The rural portions of these states remind me of home — many of the same trees and bushes as the upper Midwest where I was raised. Ocean shoreline — power and beauty — weather the rugged portion of a National Park or the waterfront of a small city — became a place I could relax and recharge. My imagination filled with sailing ships and the stories (and goods) brought back from faraway lands.

Will I return? So many things to consider — but I’m sure I could find new sights and experiences in any of these three states or their New England companions.

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Using Resources at Hand

ellenparkerwrites

They called it practical. The concept had been around for centuries. Then in the late 19th and early 20th century they made some mechanical progress and refined the idea.

Every farm in our Midwest community had one. One by one, for a variety of reasons, many went to another source of power. The one on our farm was an exception — working as designed until the early 1990’s.

We called it Wind Power.

This example (still working at a county park) is able to swivel and take advantage of a breeze from any direction. Ours pumped water into a concrete cistern. We could also move the pipe and fill the stock tank.