Return to the Land

was enchanted with him and said, “he had to have one of those also.” This event again had an influence on the farm. During the first several years of my life I developed Rickets, which is a vitamin D deficiency. Rickets’ could lead to poor bone structure and the doctor advised my parents to take me to live at the farm where plenty of sunshine and cows milk would help remedy the situation. So the summers were spent at the farm and Dad would come home to us on the weekends. Now a cow was needed and the farm soon sprang to life again. When I was 2 years old a new event would occur which reshaped the farm and influenced my life significantly. In 1939, my maternal grandparents, Frank Eugene and Mary Jim Watson, came from Lynchburg to the farm to earn a living farming and to have a place to live. (For details of how my Ma and Pa came to live with us refer to the chapter, The Watsons.) Dad then had a steady income and could afford some farming equipment, horses, and Hereford cattle. Dad purchased a team of horses from a good friend, Bob Morehead. The horses were a deep red color with black manes and tails. They carried a distinctive white spot on their foreheads. More about these equines later. A horse drawn wagon, plow, mower, and a hay rake were purchased. With these basic implements my grandfather, Pa, and Dad began farming. Dad still maintained his job in Bluefield and we lived in the apartment during the winter months and at the farm during the summer. The farm soon became a self-sustaining unit populated with chickens, cattle, and pigs. A large garden was also maintained. The farm was thriving and I was part of it, being guided and tutored by my beloved Pa. In the late 1940’s after World War I I ended the farm was converted from a beef cattle operation to a small dairy farm. In 1948 the dairy barn was built and with Jersey and Guernsey cows we began to sell Grade A milk. At the age of 6 my parents moved to another apartment in Bluefield at 1116 Princeton Avenue. Ms. Thelma Motley was our landlady. In Bluefield I could receive my elementary education where my parents felt the facilities were better than in the country. Ma and Pa continued the farming and on weekends we would come to the farm where I was totally awed by the wonders of nature and relished the solitude of playing in the fields and living on the bank of the creek. I spent the entire summer at the farm and dreaded when September would come. Then I was back in the stuffy lonesome third floor apartment overlooking the Norfolk and Western train yard. In 1951 Ma and Pa had to retire from farming because of their age and declining health. They moved to Monroe, Virginia to be near their family and in particular their youngest child Kathleen. By now the dairy farm was established. I had completed my elementary education and was ready for high school. Dad continued to commute to work from the farm on a daily basis and Mother and I operated the dairy. At the age of 13 I began working the horses and tilling the fields in addition to working in the dairy. Horses were no longer deemed efficient and were replaced with our first tractor, a 1941 used Farmall A. After high school, college was my next step, which took me away from my cherished farm for a number of years. I would return during the summer to help Dad and to find inner peace that I experienced from my childhood. In 1961 Dad retired from his work in Bluefield and returned to farm and run the dairy. The dairy had excellent milkers in our Holstein cows. My

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