The Garden

The vegetable garden was just above the lower house and was surrounded by a high, homemade picket fence to keep out the chickens which roamed all over the place. The pickets were made of any kind of wood boards, broken rails, or any kind of straight sticks nailed to a post and rail fence. The garden was about a half acre in size but the upper end of it was shaded and full of stones although most of it was good and quite productive. On the western or barnyard side of the garden was a full length row of grape vines with four or five different kinds of grapes. Every year Mom made grape jelly and canned all kinds of fruit and vegetables. So I guess we were a typical farm family of that time, plenty to eat, plenty of work, no money, and almost no neighbors or company. But that was the way country people lived. What a difference from today: no radio, no television. Everyone made their own entertainment without expense and I believe were happier than people of today with all their so-called advantages.