Saturday Snapshots–Steckle Heritage Farm

On Monday, February 20th, I was a guest storyteller at Steckle Heritage Farm for their Winter Fun Day. Though we haven’t had much snow, we were blessed with some just the day before so families  were able to go tobogganing as well.

The miniature ponies

The sheep came right to the fence and like to be petted.

Staff member Krista leading Stanley the calf out of shelter so visitors can see him

seeing the chickens

For more about Winter Fun Day, see http://storygal.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/steckle-heritage-farm-winter-fun-day-and-storytelling-too/

 

At Home With Books To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

Steckle Heritage Farm Winter Fun Day– and storytelling too

This year Steckle Heritage Farm staff introduced a new celebration to their yearly events—Winter Fun Day. Family Day, February 20th, would be a good day to add a new celebration, staff thought, and while winter weather has been an “on an off affair” this year, the likelihood of having snow had to make them a little concerned. But it snowed after all. Matt Cook said when he saw the snow coming at 2 am on Sunday morning, he went outside to celebrate it. “I did a happy dance.”

Winter Fun Day was advertised as Old Fashioned Fun, going back and celebrating the simple joys.  Steve Sinclair had the fire blazing in the hearth of the Honey House when I arrived.

The event was well attended with families, dressed in winter wear, showing up to go for rides down the hill in toboggans. They saw the animals, inside the barn and out,  did some crafts, had hot chocolate and treats, and many came to listen to stories in the Honey House. The attendance far exceeded the staff’s expectations and a camera man was on hand from CTV to take some clips as well. You can see it here.

Here are some photos from that day, including a photo  of me telling stories in the Honey House:

The miniature ponies

Sheep in the paddock

Tobogganing on the hill (above)

Storytelling (me) in the Honey House (above)

Krista Cressman-Buck (below) with Jasmine, the sheep…

…then leading Stanley, one of the calves, out of the shelter

Barn on Steckle Farm (below), some of which dates back to 1891 during the time of John and Esther Steckle, original owners of the farm

Looking at the bunny in the barn …

and a rooster too.

The Honey House, location of storytelling, is one of the stone outbuildings, part of the heritage features of the farm. Some of these buildings date between 1833 and 1845.

Derek Brisland, second teller of the day, at a quiet moment

 

Once Upon a Sandbox–My book is out

After months of writing and editing, submissions, waiting, and more editing, my book is out. Once Upon a Sandbox is a narrative in prose and poety about life on a family farm in the 50s and 60s.

If  you’ve grown up in a rural area, you will identify with many of my family’s experiences. If you’ve grown up in a city or a small town, you’ll appreciate  the need to work together to get essential chores done. You will laugh at the antics of children and pets, understand the ties of family, as well as learning about the challenges and rewards of living on the land. Come and join me on a voyage of memories.

I’ll post updates here as book signings and events are planned.  For more information or to purchase a book, please contact me.

Cover art by Deborah Pryce

 

Family Cookbook– More, Please!

Our family cookbook, published by Gateway Publishing Co, Ltd.

Our cookbook came off the press and was shipped last October; we had it in time for our family Christmas dinner in late November. And though most of the books had already been distributed, a good deal of buzz travelled around the room that day as people turned pages in a copy for the first time, as they leaned in together to point out their recipes, some of which had been used for our Christmas potluck dinner that day.

Our cookbook is more than a cookbook; it’s a piece of history.  In it are photos of family groups, their  children and grandchildren, all descendants of the late William and Ardena Herlick, my maternal grandparents. The gathering of material, pictures, recipes and stories took a great deal of time and extra prodding, but those who contributed are pleased, as are those who now have a copy.

My cousins and I thought a cookbook would a good way to record our history. The project took longer, as many do, and became more detailed than even I could imagine. But eventually, this writer, editor, and project manager, along with my most helpful assistant, Peggy, got the project together and off to press.

William and Ardena on their wedding day

Even months after, I’m hearing, ” I like that recipe.”  Then someone answering, “It’s in the cookbook.”

I’ve tried a few new recipes from the book too, some that have become new favourites. My mother, who has always enjoyed trying new recipes, is also delighted with the recipes and also for the history of her family that it represents, and that the project concluded in such a pleasing way.

My mother and her siblings grew up in the country on a farm in a time when money was often scarce, when their parents stretched every resource they had to feed and clothe their eight children, making the best use their large garden produce and the cattle, pigs and chicken they raised for food. The depression was a challenging time, but my mother said they were protected from many harsh realities of that period.

As a member of the next generation, I sought to frame much of what I had learned and that my cousins and I had experienced in our growing up years, values and learning that our parents passed on.  As it relates to our gathering around the table for meals and times of celebration with one another:

“We recognized our blessings, one, that we have never gone hungry, but also that our family has been blessed with so many good cooks, men and women who know how to take good quality meat, fruit and vegetables and create a tasty meal, and a family who, when we gather as an extended family, fills the table with home-cooked goodness.”    -from Introduction to More, Please!

The story is not over, of course; succeeding generations will write that part. Yet I hope, in time, they will take out their well-used copy of More, Please! and look at the pictures and stories once again, even if they choose to use only a few of the recipes within.

If you, the reader, should take on such a project, we wish you the best in your endeavour.

From Stone Orchard

 I borrowed Timothy Findley’s book From Stone Orchard from our local library.

 It seems that both Findley and his friend Bill Whitehead were looking for a place in the country— away from the big city of Toronto where their careers had been focused, Findley’s in acting and beginning to write, and Bill’s in research biology and in acting, an interesting combination in my mind at least.

Findley opens the book with “We found it because we had lost our way.” 

Lost? Who was lost? That made me want to read on. No longer was my research just research. It had become interesting reading.

Since Findley and Whitehead were starting new careers, they were looking for something “affordable” and found a real estate dealer whose definition of “affordable” met theirs.  Since they could write just about anywhere, they bought a small acreage with an old house on a small farm near Cannington, Ontario.

They named the place Stone Orchard, due to the prolific crop of stones they harvested at every turn.  As they tamed overgrown bushes, scythed the lawn down to a usual height, tore down old fences, they learned about the hard work of  pioneers and original settlers when they arrived in that place. They also learned to appreciate that there were muscles they had never used after taking scythe in hand to cut the long grass around the house.

Findley’s writing style is definitely literary, but it’s also entertaining and beautiful prose. He writes about the changes to the house and the landscape around it, and how they have grown with it. “After twenty years or so, we came to live in the splendour of “After”— and it’s hard to know which we loved most.”

I could tell you more, but that would spoil the reading for you. Why not borrow it from your library and find out for yourself? Meanwhile back to the book which I now must finish reading.