It was spring of 1942 and a moving day for the Groves family. My father’s eyesight was failing and it was necessary to change from night watchman in the city to a new place of employment. My uncle Jake offered his farm at the north edge of the city to be our new home.
This was a small farm of 80 acres tillable ground, an alfalfa field and a barn, a hog building, a small chicken house, three brooder houses and a long six-room building for laying hens. The farm basically was for producing eggs for my uncle’s hatchery in town.
The barn contained room for six cows to stand ready to be milked. The pig barn contained a half dozen sows and, at times of the year, many little pigs.
The small chicken house was for about 250 chickens for eggs for the family and butchering as needed. The brooder houses were for the early spring baby chicks. The large chicken house contained about 1,000 laying hens.
At times of the year the tillable ground was planted with wheat and oats, and occasionally corn. But the main work was with the animals and the chickens.
Back to town and the move. The wagon pulled up to the house and the loading began. First the beds then the rest of the furniture, the kitchen stove, the heating stove, the contents of the kitchen.
The house on the farm contained a large kitchen, dining room, parlor, bedroom, a washroom where the milk was separated, all on the main floor, and upstairs a large bedroom and a smaller one, and a storage room.
After many trips with the contents of our house in town, the farm house soon filled up with all that was moved. The three double beds were taken up to the large bedroom upstairs and one bed in the smaller room.
The downstairs bedroom contained a double bed and a single bed. The rest of the furniture was put in the other rooms. There was a small washroom at the main entrance to the house off the long, outside porch.
My main memory of the farm was exploring the many areas of the yard. It was quite the adventure taking it all in.
I can’t forget our black german shepherd dog. Of course, he was moved too, and put in a room in one of the outbuildings until he got used to being in a new place.
When the move was done and we were getting settled in our new home, my mother was in the kitchen fixing a meal for the family.
After a much needed dinner and doing some of the chores, my brother Lowell and I set out to gather eggs. Since there were so many chickens the eggs needed to be gathered twice a day. After getting them all picked up, we packed them in the large egg cartons in the middle room of the building. This was quite a process but we soon caught on and got the job done. Any eggs that were cracked were put aside and taken to the house for immediate use.
Back in the house, the beds were all put together, and looked very inviting to all our tired bodies after a long day’s work. It didn’t take long for us to get cleaned up and ready for a night’s rest. The next morning we woke to the sound of chickens cackling and knew the day of work was upon us and “life on the farm” had begun.
