While visiting my parents, we got out some of the pictures from Poland (pictures we took while living in Poland) and I took few shots of them for myself, since they are so special to me. Today I would like to share the best memories of my grandma who was my biggest influencer for gardening and farming.
I loved spending my summers in the country with my grandma who had a almost an acre land where she had all kinds of fruit trees and bushes like raspberries, gooseberries etc. She also had a large area just for the potatoes, since we Polish people love potatoes.
My grandma also had a lot of chickens, rabbits, and pigs. But before I was even born, my grandma and grandpa had even more animals, like cows and horses and a huge barn to keep all the hay. This was actually one of our favorite places to play and jump in the hay when we went to visit for the whole summers.
My lovely grandma standing in front of her house, which is a very, very old house that the Germans used to live in. It was a huge house with an attic which was super cool. In front of this house, my grandma had flowers growing everywhere. All you could see in front of this house was lots, and lots of different beautiful flowers, which my grandma would take to church before every service on Sunday, and we would always help her.
This picture is in my grandma's garden, which we loved, loved spending time there because we would always get so full with all these fruits. We had few cherry trees, which we loved to climb to get the cherries, 4 different apple trees, pear trees, 4 different kinds of plum trees etc.
And then we had a green house, where my grandma had all the tomatoes and cucumbers growing. I loved the smell in the green house from the moisture of it.
I mean, this was a paradise. We had all kinds of fruit we ever wanted and we made juices from it, because there was so much of it and baked with it etc.
I would also help my grandma feed the pigs and the chickens and get the eggs in the morning from the chicken coop.
I loved the free lifestyle my grandma lived and I have never stopped loving it and wanting it.
My grandma would send me to her neighbor with some eggs and I would bring back some fresh, creamy sour cream, which I would never forget the taste of it and to tell you the truth, I have never tasted a sour cream like that ever again.
Behind the barn and the garden, there was another garden just for the potatoes. My grandma would grow enough potatoes that would last for the whole winter by keeping them in a very cool, dark storage place underneath the house where the floor was really the ground or clay. I was always scared to go in there, because it was so dark and it just reminded me of the war, since my grandma and grandpa would tell me a lot of stories of because they both lived through World War I and World War II.
I remember all the fires we did in my grandmas garden/yard with the whole family and friends. And all you would need is some home made sausages, which my grandma also would make and which were so delicious. OMG. These sausages on the fire, were the best, with a piece of fresh baked bread if you wished. And of course, the 100% alcohol vodka, (Spirytus Vodka) was a must, especially during family get togethers. And of course a lot of singing around the fire.
And here we go again, some more family get togethers, which would usually happen twice a year since we lived quite far away. This is my grandma with a few of her daughters. Always a lot of delicious food and of course vodka. My grandma was a very, very strong and healthy woman, even until her death her body was super strong and healthy. I sure miss her. She was probably the strongest woman I knew. She was funny, and she was the best cook ever. We all loved her cooking. I am so, so lucky to have had her in my life and learn so much from her and to have such a great influence on my life. I feel so grateful and so blessed.
I loved the country life even though I was raised in a city. I was so lucky to have my moms family living in a country where I could see how free people can live and how much fun people had and how much they cared about each other and they enjoyed life, plus the most important thing was eating all the fresh good foods.
Everyone knew each other and they respected each other and enjoyed each other. I sure miss those days and looking at these pictures makes me want to cry because of how much the world has changed and in my opinion, not for the better but for the worst and I wish I could bring that world back.
Like I said...these are my most memorable memories from growing up in Poland (14 years to be exact) and now looking at these pictures, sure makes me see clear how beautiful, healthy and free country life really is and how much I am looking forward to go back to when we move back to El Salvador.
And here are some more awesome memories with all my cousins right in front of the barn. This was winter time, and we just went out I think to take this picture, otherwise we would be all outside playing around or in the garden. Can't believe the clothes we wore. Hehe. And yeah, the little short, chubby girl with the blue jeans is me. Hehe.
We were always a close family and all of our cousins were like brothers and sisters to us.
One of my favorite memories was when one of my uncles friend took me and my sister and our friends to a field to help him get the hay. We were pretty board doing nothing, so we asked if we could come and those days people always had time for others and wanted to teach kids something or do something fun with the kids even if the kids were just a kids from the neighborhood. So we went. It was so much fun, but the best part was coming back on top of the wagon filled with hay and us sitting on top of it and two beautiful horses pulling the wagon. So much fun. And of course other days we got to ride the horses etc. Just a lot of great memories that will last for a life time.
My grandma and grandpa with some friends. My grandma and grandpa had friends coming over everyday, where they would either sit on the bench in front of the house or in a bench in the garden area, just for a talk.
I promise this is the last picture. This is us walking up this steep hill, through the farm fields which my grandparents used to own some of it, but now it is just neighbors field where wheat is grown and where the lamb and cows are kept during summer time. We used to love walking up this mountain and sit right on the top of it and make fires right there and enjoy the sausages or potatoes cooked in the fire ash and of course vodka and just enjoy the gorgeous views of farm land.
We would also walk up there a lot of times just to go to the forest and do mushroom picking or just walking in the forest when it was supper hot days. There were fresh clean water streams where you could actually drink the water from.
Like I said, we had so much fun enjoying the summers in this awesome village and then we would also walk to other villages near by to see our other friends we had, and we would be in nature all day long until 9 or 10 pm when we would actually get home, from having fun, enjoying the country life style.
Hope you enjoyed my little story and my memories of my grandma and grandpa and what a huge influence they had in my life and how I fell in love with the farm life, the garden, the farm animals, fishing which we also did a lot, and really surviving/living from your own land. Free and happy.
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