The Forming of a Farmer
(1976-1981)
When we lived on Pearson road (named after my Swedish ancestors who built our house in the 1930s), my dad was working with the State Police. For that reason, when everyone else had party lines (a shared telephone line), we had a private one.
Part of the deal with the police was that my dad had to work all sorts of crazy hours. It didn’t matter that he had a young family, if he was needed to work swing shift or graveyard, that was what he had to do. For days at a time for each shift.
Stuck in a small house with two and then three young children, what was a woman to do to keep the children quiet while Dad was asleep? I’m sure some times were easier than others, but I suspect her answer was to get us out of the house whenever she could. But there’s only so much shopping or visiting Grandma or our cousins that could be done! So, sometimes, these trips out were to get various farm animals for our little homestead. In fact, this happened so regularly that it became the running joke that after my dad had finished with a graveyard shift, there would be a new animal or two running around outside!
The animals I remember having:
Cats
Especially Spit (who lived to be about 16) – she was called Spit because that’s what she did when she first came to us from my aunt’s house. Her sister was called Stripey. Both of them were calico cats and both lived well into their teens.
Chickens and ducks
I barely remember these from those early years. We had some barred rocks for sure (There’s a picture somewhere of me holding one.) They were a (mostly) loose, farmyard flock mostly raised for eggs. I remember raising the chicks on top of an old wooded fish crate that my dad rescued from the old shed. He put legs on it and turned it into a cabinet for my mother. It is one of those treasured pieces of furniture which has stood the test of time and still resides in her kitchen to hold the things that never seem to fit anywhere else.
Apparently, one time, my father came home in the middle of the night (on swing shift) and found the whole mess of chicks huddled together under the step stool where I normally watched them! Not sure what happened there as the cats were only outdoor cats (Dad thought he was allergic to them – though he discovered differently in later years.)
Another time, my dad thought it would be really funny to throw my beloved ducks into my bath with me! The only problem with ducks in the bath is: they tend to defecate upon landing in the water! So, I was out of that bath real fast!
Rabbits
We had a Salt and Pepper (colors) at one point, but I really don’t remember the names of the various rabbits. Moving their cages around (often old mink cages due to living only ½ a mile from the nearest mink farm) helped cut the grass and fertilize at the same time. I remember being bit on the fingertip once and being more careful after that.
(Me about 1977 playing with one of the rabbits.)
Goats
We had several nanny goats in those early years. We also had a buck who was called Stinker because during their rut, they have this nasty habit (that 
Cows
I remember (again, while my dad was working graveyard) going down to a farm a ways beyond my aunt and uncle’s house in Brownsmead. We picked up a dairy steer to raise on our farm. (In dairy, the male calves are often considered ‘waste’- so we helped this by raising a couple of these spare steers ourselves for meat.) I remember my mother showing us how the calf would suck on her fingers. I wasn’t brave enough to try. We raised two of these, tethered like we did with the goats. (The property would have been really difficult to fence.)
Guinea Fowl
I barely remember these. My mom remembers them flying from the top of our roof to the top of the shed roof making fabulous amounts of noise! But more recently, I have learned some cool things about these birds which would make them very good for the homestead!
Photo taken by my parents about 1977.
Past issues...
Preschool to Second Grade - Svensen, Oregon
Svensen Trailer Court , The Best Place for a Child to Grow ,
Lori Svensen
author/designer at A'mara Books
photographer/graphic artist for Viking Visual
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