I had the chance to go back home and enjoy the beauties of New York and memories of the farm. My parents have decided to sell the farm, or talk about it and have it listed for sale. My siblings and I have mixed emotions about losing the farm and home, but understand my parents reasoning for wanting to sell. Lots of good childhood memories at this place. Every year my brothers meet at the farm to help my parents with first cutting of hay. I didn't want to miss out and had feelings of homesickness, so Joslynn and I flew back the last week of May 2013. Our flight was disastrous getting there, but it was well worth. I was suppose to fly into Syracuse at 11 pm, but didn't arrive there until 7 am by van instead of plane. There were strong winds and the plane was unable to land as scheduled and had to detour to Rochester. The pilot attempted again, after refueling, but was unsuccessful and we had to go back to Rochester, or run out of fuel. By this time it was 3 am. All the passengers sat in the airport waiting to here how we were going to get to Syracuse. It was decided to go by taxi and we each had to wait our turn. The vans, cars could only hold 4-5 people. Luckily, young children and parents were one of the first ones to go. We arrived at Syracuse, a cold and raining morning feeling very tired, but glad to finally see my sister. She was kind to let me sleep a few hours and Joslynn took a nap later in the day. Joslynn did exceptionally well considering the circumstances, she was a trooper. My planned stay was for nine days, but I got an extra day due to flight delays. Instead of having long hours at JFK and a night flight into SLC, I asked to fly the next day and they were very happy to accommodate me. I called my sister and she came back to the airport to get me and we had a very enjoyable extra day. I was extremely grateful that she lives only 20 minutes away from the airport.
the farm house
Columbus cemetery - my Dad's parents and grandparents are buried here. My parents also have plots at this site. Diane bought flowers and we planted them in front of the stone.
We had plenty of rain the first few days and it was actually a little chilly. There were plenty of mud puddles for the children to get plastered in. Several of them got their boots stuck and needed help getting out. Kenneth was the only one that brought his entire family.
This cow knows how to stay cool!
One evening we had a doozy of a storm - thunder lightening and a down pour. This is my mothers garden, mostly under water. Power was out for awhile, had dinner by candlelight. My brothers were preparing to get the generators out, but power was restored as they were getting them. Mom and I went back to the barn to finish cleaning up and wash the milkers. Luckily they had finished milking before the power went out.
Kenneth fixing the baler with his many helpers!!
Four boys, four tractors - just enough to work together. One mowed, raked, baled, wrapped. They have it down to a science and it is quite enjoyable to watch.
Dennis, Scott
Karen, Diane, Kate, Aryanna, Lilly, Alec, Benjamin
After the cool storms, brought hot, humid heat. My clothes were sticking to me and we all were wishing for cooler weather again. The kids enjoyed Diane spraying them at the barn.
Jason reading to Benjamin, Aryanna, Joslynn, Emma
This is Ellie Houghton Olsen. We went to high school together and haven't seen each other in 19 years!! She was able to come to the farm one afternoon and had a good visit. We laughed and caught up on life.
