Fun On The Farm

 

After 22+ years in the Navy, my husband retired and we headed back to Alabama from 'whence we came'. We had 60 acres, part of it flat, part of it hilly and a creek ran through the corner of it. 

Perfect place for the kids to grow up and learn about nature, country-living, how to survive.

Michael was 12, Shirley 13 and the youngest, Susan was 6.

What a time we had, learning how to be country folk after years of moving around from city to city during our Navy stint. It was exciting but man, was it challenging!

When we had some 'down' time we'd head to the creek. Most of the time the kids would play on a large flat rock that was there. They built a dam across the creek and set leaf 'boats' sailing down the water. Then they would try to sink them by bombing the boats with pebbles.

Sometimes Elbert would fish. He never caught much but he was having fun. Me? I would just sit on the bank and watch my family having the time of their lives. 

We'd go for hikes in the woods and pick wild blueberries which I carried home in a large cowcumber leaf that I had pinned into a bowl using thorns. 

We'd find maypops, trillium and wild iris blooming near the bluff. Yes, there was a bluff by the creek and the kids loved exploring that. 

We left that land in 1999, having lived there for 30 years. The kids were all grown with children of their own.  We'd taken the grandkids on hikes in those same woods and they played in the creek. It was time for a new adventure.

What memories we made in Blackwater Creek on our farm.