On The Homestead

Today, I spent a few hours on the Rice Homestead taking some of my last photos from there. Mom has now moved to the home of one of my brothers. In time the property will be put up for sale though one of my siblings lives there for the time being. It struck me as I reminisced through the property how that so much had changed already through the years since I've been a child. Below are a few photos from my time there today.

 

This picture was taken from my childhood church home looking across the cemetery. The cemetery is much larger than it appears here. The house I lived in as a child and into my adulthood for some years is located on the far left. Behind the house is our red barn which for many years housed a couple thousand chickens, loads of straw bales, and farm machinery. There was also a chicken house that held six thousand chickens to the left of the house but not seen in this photo. On the right are some of my brothers' greenhouses. And in the back of the photo is a neighboring dairy farm.

 

Here's a view of the house with part of the barn in the background. Over the years, we spent a lot of time on the porch of this house. I remember in particular watching thunderstorms from there and helping Mom and Dad prepare fruits and vegetables for canning and freezing.

 

Here's the dinner bell that was used precisely for that purpose or anytime we were too far away to be called by the voice. As children we roamed a wide stretch of the farm and the bell was the easiest way to call us in.

 

Here's another view of the barn in the center with a corn crib and machinery shed on the left and the larger chicken house on the right. The barn actually used to be longer than it is in this picture.

 

This photo is a part of the main barn door taken from inside the barn. I took this photo because I like the wood grain and colors. In a future post, I may display more interior photos from the barn.

 

Here's a photo of a clock my dad gave to my Mom many years ago. The wood grain shown here is the same as the rest of the kitchen cupboards. Mom and us children spent a lot of time in this kitchen. She made sure we all at least knew the basic rudiments of cooking and baking.

 

This is some of the decor from the living room. Mom decorated her home with many knickknacks and pictures throughout the home. She knew how to make a house a home.