Us . . . the farmers in Boon Lake had a lot to think on. With two small children that both had separate health issues . . what to do! The sensitivity to cattle dander for Kevin was what it was. There was nothing that would take that away. What could be done was to take the cattle away.
Some of the best of the dairy cows were sold to several neighbors. The remaining were shipped. We maintained the hogs and the chickens. There was a neighbor to the south, Donald Todneum, that was retiring from farming. It was decided that we would rent their land in the hopes of additional crops that could be sold and it would make up the difference of the milk that was sold. It was sure worth a try. The machinery that we had would make do until we could see how this additional acreage would work out.
We still enjoyed the farm life. The kids were thriving. Carrie was off all meds and started school. She would turn five in October, but would be allowed to start kindergarten in September when she was four. Kevin and Snoopy were great partners. If Kevin couldn’t be seen, you just needed to call Snoopy. Where he popped out that is where Kevin was. It looked as if all things were going to work out.
The summer of 1969 my brother Michael was drafted into the army. Mom and Dad were still milking cows and it didn’t hurt that we had a bit more time to lend a hand if it was needed.
There was an opportunity for Orlin to begin working at 3M in Hutchinson in the summer of 1970. It was shift work. It was also insurance benefits. It was getting easier for Carrie and Kevin to be left in the house for short times for me to take care of chores. We had fixed up the basement for a television room. Over the course of time we had bought a rug loom and that was in a portion of the basement. Depending on the shift for Orlin, the kids and I could be busy in the basement while Orlin slept in the upstairs bedroom. You set your mind to things and it seems that nothing can’t be worked out.
Orlin’s nephew Frank spent the summers with us. He loved the farm life and he became a part of the family. He wasn’t very happy with the school started in the fall of the years and was always ready to come back on weekends during the harvests.
The extra acres were working out and we perhaps were on a high. That didn’t last long. The late spring, early summer of ’72 we and many others were hailed out. We tried to plant back late soybeans but it was a chance we took. It was a very poor return on our investment of fuel and seed. All we could do was pull up the boot straps and continue on. Orlin picked up twelve hour shifts at 3M as often as he could.
I signed up to work the sweetcorn pack at Glencoe’s Green Giant company. There were several of us farm wives that pooled together. I could work whenever Orlin was on days at 3M. We would listen to the radio to know when we would have to be there. We all signed up to work over the night hours. I got on the husker machines. The truck would dump the sweetcorn into bins outside and the husker shoots would allow the corn to come down at the speed that the holes could be filled where I was standing. It was dirty wet corn as they were picking during the night. The starch would splatter when the cobs hit the knives. Huskers were paid a commission. Good for me. When us gals would drive home the corn starch had us covered in corn splatter. Our hair covers and aprons were rolled into balls that needed to be peeled apart when we got home. It was good extra money for Christmas that year.
We wouldn’t be putting in a crop for 1973. We wouldn’t be living in our Boon Lake farmhouse for the entire year of 1973. Otto Duesterhoeft would be taking over the acres on the west side of the road and the tillable acres on the east side Dad would be taking over. The farmsite would be sold.
I do remember sitting on the basement steps when the last of the details had been worked out . . . and I was crying. We were pregnant and we would be having a baby in December of 1973. I had hoped this would be our forever home. But I knew that it wasn’t a physical address that made it home. It was where we would be together that would be home.
Our wonderful farming days would soon be over . . . but not the wonderful memories of Carrie having her first birthday on the farm. Kevin coming home from the hospital for his first days on the farm. So much had taken place from the early months of 1966 to the fall of 1973.
We were moving to a building site four miles out of Buffalo Lake. The kids would be going to Buffalo Lake Public School. Orlin would be working at 3M and I was going to be a new mother.
Perhaps there will be a time when I continue my memories. Time will tell.
Today is April 14th and it is a whopping 29 degrees of cold outside with a brisk wind from the west. Another day when the fresh air of my walk needed to postponed. Maybe tomorrow. Always the tomorrows to look forward to. I have been doing that for nigh unto 76 wonderful years. I have always been happy where the good Lord has planted me, but perhaps with always the wonder of . . . what next.
