Farmhouse Style and Farm Life
One of the trendy home decorating styles of late is Farmhouse Chic. Magazines and books show hundreds of ideas for incorporating galvanized objects, like milk cans and wash boards, into kitchens and pantries to give them a back-on-the-farm look. The feeling of being on a farm and back to nature appeals to us because it takes us from the real world of our fast-paced and hectic society. This is not to say that a farmer’s life is laid back and relaxing. In fact, quite the opposite.
Growing up, I lived in a farming community where farmers and their family worked long hours seven days a week. Our house was next to our cousin’s dairy farm and I saw first-hand how laborious it was to milk cows, feed chickens and grow crops. Weather played a major role in everything that went on, but it could never be a reason for not doing your daily chores. Cold, snowy conditions could not get in the way of collecting the eggs from the chicken coop or from feeding the cows. And I remember vividly how my cousins and my dad hauled hay bales in the boiling heat of August working from sunup to to sundown. They came in only to eat, sleep and do it all again the next day and the next until the barn was brimming with hay bales.
Women were also farm warriors pickling, canning, baking, and cooking- a lot of cooking. In the late summer, mason glass jars would cover every surface in the kitchen getting ready for tomatoes, peaches, corn, string beans, beets and peas. On the floor would be all sizes of crocks filled with bread and butter pickles, sweet pickles and dill pickles. After days of pickling, Mom and I would fill more mason jars with those little cucumbers transformed into pickles. Then down to the cellar pantry all Mom’s creations would go. There they would be stored until we used them throughout the year. How great they tasted in the cold winter months.
My cousin and I found lots to keep us busy around the farm. Judy and I never got bored and we did not even have video games! We spent endless hours finding the new kittens in the barn. As we listened to the tiny sounds of meowing, we went on a treasure hunt to find the baby creatures. Sometimes we would need to feed the little ones with doll’s bottles filled with milk. Perhaps it is on the farm where Judy and I developed our love for animals. We even had names for some of the cute cows. “Bluebell” was one I particularly remember.
I love my memories of the farm. I recently visited my cousin who still lives next to the farm and it was heartwarming to spend time there, especially with Judy. Perhaps the farmhouse style means more to me than others because of my childhood. When I display my farmhouse decor, I use the real thing. My Dad’s milking cans are on top of my kitchen cabinets. They are worn and “distressed” from his hands holding them over the years. My Mom’s canning jars are displayed in my bookcase. I have them safely placed behind glass doors. I know they cannot be replaced and they are more valuable to me than just decoration. I have a picture of an old barn hanging on the wall reminding me daily of those times playing around the farm buildings and walking in the surrounding fields and meadows.
I hope that the Farmhouse Style stays with us for awhile. I enjoy seeing the sights of so many nostalgic items when I am in stores or flipping through catalogs. But like many things, this style will be replaced at some point with another decorating trend. Yet for me, the farmhouse look is more than simply a few related items displayed around the house. It is part of my life’s memoir reminding me of some incredibility wonderful times with my family and my special cousin, Judy, when we lived the good life on the farm.
Canvas Print: Memories from the Farm by Ruane Manning
