Screenshot
Catskill Farm Memories
My father was born on a farm that bordered a small lake in the Catskill town of Liberty, NY. Years later his folks added an addition to what had been their farmhouse and began taking in boarders who came up from the city seeking the country air. And eventually my grandparents ran the homestead as a small hotel – no longer a farm – and it’s that hotel I remember from my own childhood. (See My Heart Remembers My Grandmother’s Hotel, Hotel Kittens, The Cat and the Forshpeiz, Our Special Guests, and The Troubadour)
But through his high school years my dad lived on the farm, and he would regale us with his happy farmboy memories as well as some not so happy ones.
In fact one that sounds rather cruel was his propensity for catching frogs in the lake and dissecting them. But chalk that up to his early interest in biology and anatomy as he did go on to become a physician! (See GP, Turkey and Trimmings with Flu Shot and Saying Farewell to a Special Guy)
Another unhappy memory was of his bachelor uncle Max who lived with them on the farm and was responsible for feeding and caring for the chickens. Family legend has it that Max fell for a young woman who lived in town, and was often gone from the farm for days at a time. While busy courting his sweetheart, he neglected the chickens who all died!
Then there was the sad tale of the two farm horses Joe and Jack. When Jack took sick and died, Joe was heard kicking the side of his stall all night long, surely mourning his dead friend.
A happier memory was my dad as a boy milking one of the cows while a barn cat, attracted by the sweet smell, meowed at his feet. Aiming the cow’s teat at the cat, he’d shoot the milk right into its mouth!
– Dana Susan Lehrman
Dana Susan LehrmanThis retired librarian loves big city bustle and cozy country weekends, friends and family, good books and theatre, movies and jazz, travel, tennis, Yankee baseball, and writing about life as she sees it on her blog World Thru Brown Eyes!
www.WorldThruBrownEyes.com
Thanks for sharing the good and not-so-good memories of that time and place. I remember your other posts about the hotel/farm and what a treat to have that family history.
Thanx Khati, that hotel is seared in my trove of childhood memories!
My Mom had family ties to Kingston, NY (https://www.myretrospect.com/stories/ozymandias-in-kingston/). This area was not that far from Bayonne, so we visited now and then. One time, we went to the Catskill Game Farm. Somewhere I have a picture of my father feeding a llama….
In grad school, my lab was right next to the Experimental Farm dairy barn (Rutgers was a Land Grant school with a big Ag Sci program). One spring some friends and I “adopted” a cow and showed her on Ag Field day. I remember the smell of the dairy barn being distinct, but not at all offensive. Alas, the fetching student who was tending the next cow over never would go out with me.
Dave, good to know this Jersey boy knows the Catskills and has even adopted a cow (sorry about the fetching girl at the next cow!)