It has been a long time since I had children growing up on a farm. Things have changed dramatically over the years. Farm children now participate in many more activities. When our children grew up the opportunities were fewer.

Our children rode the bus to school. They were part of the marching band while in high school. They made many friends. When they stayed for practice, there was a late bus that brought them to Hale’s Store. There was a neighborhood carpool with the moms taking turns to transport them. That made it very nice since I did not have to go every day.

Our daughter was a cheerleader so that meant extra trips. Going up to Eisenhower School at night to pick her up was routine.

I was overjoyed when summer arrived. That meant there were no schedules to contend with. The children could stay up late and it did not matter.

When the youngsters were small, they got out Johnny West and Jane and played on the porch. They had the horses too. Jill had one Barbie that she tried to get to ride the horse. Barbie’s legs did not bend. She ended up with a Barbie with only one leg.

The children also had a Chipperoo Bunkhouse that fit over a card table. We put that out on the porch. With a wrap-a-round porch there was always a dry spot. I think I sent in labels from Nestle Quik to get it so the price was right.

They spent hours playing with the Fisher-Price barn and house. When the cousins came to visit, they made small bales of hay to store in the barn – just like their dads did.

Sometimes we went up the road to the creek to play. They wore swimsuits so they could wade in.

In the early spring they caught polliwogs and brought them home to watch them grow.

One summer our enterprising youngsters planned a show. They made tickets and sold them. The stage was the upstairs barn floor.

The curtain was the double bar door. The cousins got together as much as possible while they were planning the show. There were costumes and music as well as some acting. “The Clovers” put on the show and we were their audience. What a lot of fun they had doing that!

One year there had been a lot of rain. The men could not take the big truck on the field to harvest the corn.

We all headed to the field to pick. How do I remember this? There are pictures of the children breaking off the ears of corn and throwing them into a tub. We were all wearing orange because it was hunting season. I do not think any deer would have dared approach since we were quite noisy. We made the work fun!

Sometimes we would go up on the hill to pick blackberries. After a storm went through there were a lot of berries. You had to wear something with long sleeves because of the prickers. The children picked for a while then turned to playing. They made offices in the tree line. Usually, we took our lunch. A picnic in the berry patch was a lot of fun.

Once the children were in high school, camping was the big thing. They took supplies up on the hill with the four-wheeler. There was a nice area without trees for them to set up their camp. No tents, just sleeping bags. A campfire was a must have. Sometimes we went up to sit around the fire then came home to go to bed. I never knew how many kids there would be for breakfast the next morning.

I recall making pancakes one morning because there was a big group to feed. I had eggs to cook, but not enough bread to make toast for all of them. They did not care what there was to eat, but they were all hungry.

Sometimes they camped up on my sister-in-law’s property. Then they usually took cooking supplies and fixed their own breakfast.

I know they cooked beans one morning and cooked their eggs in the same pan. That was not a hit. The eggs turned a funny brown color.

Fun was at home. We did not go to a lot of places because there was always work to do. Really, I enjoyed the children and their friends. We often sat around our kitchen table to visit. Thank goodness it was on wheels because we moved it a lot!

Ann Swanson writes from Russell. Contact her at hickoryheights1@verizon.net.