Grandma Peterson talks about the farm

(I'm going to type this just like she is talking)
When we first went to the farm to see if we wanted to buy it, the house was in easter egg colors. It was still those colors when we left. The fences were broken and the weeds were taller than me. We liked it and decided it would be a fun retreat for weekends to get away from the appliance store in Orem. Needless to say, I didn't realized the amount of hard work it would take to get that place into shape- it took us all summer long. The first summer we planted a beautiful garden next to the house. Grandpa didn't like the way the tomatoes were growing to he decided to give them a little help and the next morning when he got up the tomato plants were dead and the neighbor stopped by and asked what happened. Grandpa gave them a dose of.... (Grandma can't remember but whatever it was, but they didn't grow, they died). Then Grandpa decided he needed chickens and brought 1 or 2 dozen that he raised from eggs under lights from the back porch. He had all types. That must be why the Peterson's have chickens in their backyard (I added that thinking of Tom and Josh). They had brown, green-blue and speckled eggs. Then Grandpa decided he needed to have pigs but first Roger caught a greased pig on the 4th of July, so that was the first pig. Then Grandpa got another one to go with the first pig. When it came time to harvest the pigs- Grandpa spent 2 days trying to force the pigs into the back of the truck. The neighbor came over to help cause Grandpa couldn't get the job done. The neighbor helped by picking up a stick about 5 inches long and tickled the pigs on the back side and the pigs went up into the truck with no problems. Grandma is now laughing. She said Grandpa was surprised at how easy it was. The Davidson girls could have given Grandpa a lesson on that one- right girls? The next thing we did was get a couple of rabbits and they grew and grew and grew until they got all over the neighborhood. (By grew and grew she meant multiplied as rabbits do). Then we had a couple of horses, one's name was Freedom and the other she can't remember the name but the kids enjoyed riding those. Then Grandpa decided he wanted to raise white cows. So he bought 1 from some guy in Pleasant Grove and that cow had twins, but she wouldn't take care of them. So Grandpa had to tie her to a post between 2 fences so she was stuck and tied her legs down so she wouldn't kick the calves, and he decided that was a lot of work. The calves lived so that plan worked. Then after he done that he decided to go get 10 more calves the next spring. Grandma was the one that had to feed them with buckets of milk because Grandpa decided to work at the turkey plant as a meat inspector in Moroni. (So Dad inspected turkeys? Hummmmm I could make a joke- but won't). That was his first civil service job with the gov't. And Grandma raised 2 little baby sheep- named Tami and Sami- one was white and one was black. She raised them on a bottle and the little kids loved to feed them. All she had to do was clap her hands, call their names and they would come on the run. Let's see- what else- let's see- what else...Grandpa bought a bull so he could raise more cows. He had so much trouble with it going over the fence that he sent it to the slaughter house. It was so big it broke down the steel door at the slaughter house. It must of weight 1600 lbs. They ate the bull and it tasted good. (So much for the bull in this story). Roger also had a cow he raised from a calf. He would ride on its back and guide it by it's tail. Good job, Roger. Roger also had a sheep that he raised that had horns and he taught it to bunt a tire and one day it almost bunted Grandpa to the ground. The next day Roger got behind him and Roger got knocked down so they gave it to a neighbor just to get rid of it. We always raised a garden every year and took the veggies home and left some on the lawn with a sign to take what you wanted and the veggies were always gone the next week. The people driving by would take them. The last year we were there we hauled hay until 1:30 in the morning and that's when I said to sell this place. We sold it and that was the end of the farm. We bought the farm for $30,000 and sold it for $65,000 when we sold it. It had 2 shares of water too. So that is the end of this story. A good experience but a lot of work. Oh my gosh! Love Grandma

Oh- the Farm!

We loved going to the farm- packing you girls up on a Friday after work jumping in the car and driving to the farm. We went to the farm for years until it was sold but you girls starting going as young as 2- I think. Geniel was packing Kerrie around on her hip at the farm showing her the baby kittens in the barn or the baby rabbits that no one could touch. I have a picture of Geniel helping Kerrie feed a lamb and when Kerrie was to big to pack around then it was Holly's turn to be packed around on Geniel's hip. Grandpa and Grandma sure grew a good garden at the farm. I remember eating dinner one night and Dad said that everything on the table was a product of the farm. Dad always wore those gray blue coveralls and had a hankie hanging out of his back pocket to wipe his face. If he got real tired he'd send one of you kids to the house for a glass of ice water. Grandma taught me how to paint at the farm. We'd sit at the table for hours and paint pictures or tole paint- I loved it. Thanks, Mom, for teaching me how to paint. Grandma still has some of those pictures she painted at the farm and I know all the stuff from the farm is packed in her basement for everyone to dig through after she is gone and ask "Why did she keeps this?" Oh well- just so everyone knows I will NOT be carrying anything out of that basement. Back to the Farm- remember the pond that Grandpa had dug and the roaster that use to chase James around and around the pond as James yelled for Grandpa to come save him. The truth was Grandpa was watching and laughing from a distance- poor James. Oh, the farm always brings back good memories. Thanks girls for bring that up. I'll have Grandma post when she comes over this week. Love you

June 9, 2008 6:05 PM

Mount Pleasant Memories...Top 10

What a great place. I actually drove by there about a year ago...memories came flooding back.

1) Snowball fight with Uncle Roger and Ron with snowmobiles. I was a fearful child holding on for dear life as we chased around the fields. SCARED TO DEATH!
2) Head butted by a HUGE RAM FROM HELL.
3) Grandpa's story of him launching a pitchfork at a rooster. Cock-a-doo-dle-DEAD.
4) Bathroom wallpaper with the old 1920's motif.
5) Riding for hours and hours and hours in the back of the white pick up, tucked away in sleeping bags to stay warm, just to keep asking, "are we there yet?"
6) Taking home Andy the cat! The best and only cat I have loved. He died a tragic death by broken neck thanks to our South Jordan neighbors.
7) Swinging on the tire by the pond. Or was it just a wooden swing?
8) The Hen House. (I now have 4 chickens.)
9) Grandma's good cookin
10) Being bored for hours and hours.

I wish I had more time to spend there. I was in Pennsylvania for much of the time that they owned the farm.

The Farm

Hey Grandma,

Tonight Holly and I were doing a little reminiscing about the farm in Pleasant Grove. Holly vaguely remembers it, but I remembered some things about the place and thought I'd share. I remember the "magic" birds nest above the door. Sometimes Grandpa would lift us up to see the eggs in the nest, and when there weren't eggs, we would always find money in it. He said it was a magic bird's nest. I also remember Grandpa always teasing us at the kitchen table with his pet spider that would come down from the shelf above the table. I can't remember if there really was a pretend spider on the shelf or if he just liked teasing me about one. Do you know? And for some odd reason, I remember your kitchen vinyl chairs and staring at the little round designs on them. I'm thinking that they were blue, is that right? And one of my other memories about that place was pulling out the roll away bed to sleep in front of the tv and Gena and Geniel being so excited to watch Dallas. I was too young to care about the show but was just excited to be watching it with them. Mom, how old would I have been when we visited the farm?

Anyway, I just thought I'd share some of my memories about that place, and was wondering if you would share some of your memories about the farm as well. Thanks, Grandma.

Love, Kerrie

P.S. Also if anyone else has any memories about the farm it would be fun to hear about them.

Severe Family Slideshow

Just thought you would like to see what the Severes have been up to Thanks Holly and Bonnie for the video! Thanks everyone for the pictures!