This adage stands true still today.  Even with all the inventory in every nook and cranny of every store in town.  Or perhaps, it is true because I like a challenge.  I like to see what I can make from very few supplies.  Be it in the my refrigerator, or the stable.  When there is seemingly nothing around needed for the current idea on my little brain, it puts a diabolical smile on my face!  I know the items can be purchased in town, but where is the adventure in that?  Besides, in regards to the farm, the tool would probably be too heavy for this PFO to heave in the truck bed much less get off by myself.

The tool I have been wanting is a field drag.  It had to be small enough to be pulled behind the club car, which leaves a softer footprint in the fields, fun to drive and is easy on gas.  To be sure, anything done with the club car is fun.  So I figured I would slay this dragon one step at a time.  First things first, I attached the hitch.  That was sure easy!

First things first, I had to attach the hitch.  That was easy!

I had a basic drag in mind and began searching the barn for needed items.  A metal fence post was hiding in the back corner.  Perfect, made a great bar for attaching the drag pieces.  An old lead line from the horse trailer became the tie for the bar.  So far, so good.

A metal fence post became the bar used to attach drag pieces.  An old lead line hooked bar to club car.

Now for the drag pieces.  I knew I needed something heavy enough to disturb and move the manure in the field.  There was no old fence lying around or up in the rafters.  However, hanging neatly on nails were several good old chains.  Alright!  This job was coming right along.  I ‘tied’ the chains at various lengths onto the bar of the drag.  The fields were patiently waiting.  Only other needed items was a good pair of gloves, and a bottle of cool water.  Check!

Chains are attached. Drag was ready to go to work!

A pair of gloves and water were only other necessary items.

It was fun dragging the field even though it did not quite take care of all the piles of poo.  I can look out at the field and see a difference and that is sure satisfying.  The microbes and worms were very delighted to have their yummy meal spread over the soil.

The earth worms will be happy to have their yummy food spread over the soil.

One small swipe in paddock and this job is nearly done.

Eventually I would like to attach a 4 over 4 piece of wire fence or one cattle panel  (depending on which one is lighter) in lieu of the chains.  But for this day and this job, this PFO is happy with her day’s work and tool!

Equipment cleaned up, ready to put away, job done.  Next?

My husband and I raised and home schooled four rowdy boys and our 5th child was a girl.  Dare we say there is nary a thing that scares her?  Seriously.  Is there anything more frightful than four older brothers?  She can hold her own to be sure.  All their lives they heard the title of this blog;  You are Not what you Drive, but you are what you eat.  Our sons are car dudes.  We introduced them to two pastimes, cars and fishing, for very specific reasons.  Fishing is an important skill every boy should have (though one never tells them that).  They loved attaching the squirming worms to the hooks and flinging them through the air to a delightful kerplunk  into the water, only to be eaten alive!  Ahhh!  Boys are so easy to entertain!

We introduced them to fishing.

Cars were the next purposeful passion introduced to them near driving age because cars cannot get pregnant!  Many Friday nights were spent working on cars.  These passions have served them very well.  They are now what we call “black-belt” fisherman.  Their families will never go hungry.  In addition, they have saved thousands of dollars on vehicles, as they are all accomplished mechanics.  Their sister has benefited as well.  Guys love that she can fish and knows cars!

Our lifestyle was simple and still is.

Anyway, back to the point.  Our lifestyle was simple, and still is.  We started our family over 34 years ago on one income, and still live on one income.  We ate all summer from our garden or grandparent’s garden.  We enjoyed food we had canned and preserved through the long winter months.  Many evenings at the supper table our kids heard the origin of the meal spread before us.  Bread and jam were homemade in our kitchen, green beans and beets from Grandad’s garden.  The beef, pork or lamb had been purchased from our friends who raised them on their farms.  It was good eating.  “Your Mom is not happy unless she is feeding something”, our kids have heard forever.  Be it kid, cat, dog, chickens, horse, cow, or birds, it is a true statement.

We ate our of our garden or Granddad’s.

Cars brought a different view to the landscape of life as the kids grew older.  Somehow they got the misguided notion that they were what they drove!  Hmmm, how did that get into their 16-year-old minds?  Yes, sports cars are fast and Dodge Rams are tough, and excellent advertising touts they make us who we are.  Wrong.  They are a necessary useful tool and a huge money pit. Try telling that to four boys!

Actually bikes pre-dated cars.  ‘Hmmm, how do I fix this issue’, says Gordon.

Because space and money were limited, old beaters were the wheels of choice.  There were times our yard and driveway looked like a junkyard.  Those days have all too quickly faded into memory now.

We still eat out of our garden, we now raise our own beef (see our previous blogs), and now we are enjoying our grandkids.  Life has traveled full circle and it is good.  Food is one of the wonders and joys of life.  Knowing how to manage, prepare, preserve, and serve food to one’s family is a privilege.  Not to mention a sense of security.  We are okay if the lights go out.

They are now “black-belt” fisherman.  Providing food for their family will be no problem for them.

“These dogs are not on leashes!”  These were the excited words of a young girl when she saw our dogs running free over the farm.  They can come and go as they like over the farm.  I wonder if they are aware of the close eye we keep on them.  They must because they respond when I say,”Leave it!”  They know their boundaries, though they push them often.

It is time for a walk, yes?

Every morning brings us a little jaunt over the roads and fields.  It is a time the two dogs and I enjoy greatly.  It is a brand new day, fresh air, fresh thoughts.  Nothing seemed out of sorts when we struck off on our walk early one morning this week…except for Dandy.  He was following very closely to me.  Much too close, as the dogs usually are off on a rabbit trail or some such.  He not only hovered by me, he kept whining, pausing, and looking back towards home.

He kept whining, pausing and staring at me…

I ignored his behavior, told him to come on, there is nothing out here.  This dog became so insistent, I acquiesced.  He jumped with joy, and made a direct line towards home.  I may never know on this side of Heaven what had this dog so upset.  I do know we have had wonderful walks all the rest of this week!  Hmmm….

“Your dogs are not on leashes!”, she exclaimed excitedly.

It has been over 10 months since the last blog on BRH’s.  In that time we have moved to a new location in Frederick County, and I am very close to be able to ride again after a rather serious accident nearly eight months ago.

I realize I have lost the momentum of the entries on our mother and the legacy she left.  However, I would like to close the chapters on her with a couple photos of one of the last times she and I had with the horses.  Thank you for indulging me.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Griz was a big part of our Bi-Centennial Wagon Train adventure.

Our mother and Carl (whom we lovingly called ‘Griz’ because he was as big as a grizzly bear!) were married as soon as the Wagon Train ended and all departed back to their homes.

Our mother and Carl were married as soon as the Wagon Train was over.

Griz was a ‘G’ man.  His career with the CIA for over 30 years had filled our imagination with stories of espionage and intrigue.  We knew behind his smile were stories we would never come to know or hear of.  He was a man with connections, that we only caught glimpses of…like the night our bus (it truly was a school bus converted into a 4-horse trailer) broke down on the way back home from the Wagon Train.

We had gone far off route looking at a horse to buy.  The folks kindly offered us their living room floor to sleep for the night so we could repair the bus the following morning.  The entire household was awakened by firm wraps upon the front door.  Whereupon opening stood two state troopers looking for three young people.  They listed each of us by first and last name!  That was just one glimpse of Grizs’ connections.

Between the two of them stood ten children.  Griz had three grown and gone sons, and two mostly grown, though still at home, daughters.  Our mother had one grown and gone son, and two sets of twins.  All were on their own except for one twin living at the Caverns.

Griz and our mother were preparing the canoes for a trip!

Having grown children at home provided an easy answer to the question of who would care for the house and animals as Griz and our mother were preparing for a trip.  A trip that required the repair of Griz’s two Otca Old Town canoes, named Castor and Pollox.  Griz, our mother, and two other crew members were going to canoe 1,000 miles on the Mackenzie River in Canada!

The joy horses gave us were a tie that bound our mother and us together.  The glue that held our divorced mother and us close for the remainder of our lives.

We spent many happy hours riding our horses together.

Like good ‘ole fishing stories, we shared plenty of horse stories.  The pinnacle of our riding days was the summer of 1976.  The Bicentennial Wagon Train was on the roll.  Five wagon trains re-tracing the five major wagon routes across the country were heading backwards.  Valley Forge, Pennsylvania was the hub we were riding towards.  Each state had an official wagon, and the Virginia wagon with it’s entourage was heading to our place, Endless Caverns in New Market, Virginia to bivouac for the night.

We led the Wagon Train into their camping grounds at the Caverns.

Our mother waving a happy hello, with three riders, and three important support team folks.

Our official Virginia wagon.

This month-long adventure was our mothers idea.  We were to take the month off from work, horseback ride through four states, 370 miles to Valley Forge, PA.  Five of us rode. Two, teen-age boys, we teen-age twins, and our 51 year-old mother.  We broke camp on a bright early morning in June of 1976, and headed north towards PA.

It was also there, at the Caverns, where our mother met and married, Carl T. Taylor.  He would soon take her on an adventure of a lifetime.  Though we did not know it at the time, our trails together

Our mother riding her last ‘big’ horse, Snip.

had come to an end.