My Earliest Memory on the farm

      Here’s a picture of me all decked out in my new lederhosen  at Grandpa and Grandma’s farm West of Langworthy.   They  moved to Monticello  in 1962 or 63 so I was probably only  3 or 4  at the time.

        I remember riding in the back of  a small wooden  wagon, hanging on  for dear life  as we headed to the standing corn.  The snout of the two-row picker plunged into the  corn, a minute later,  the elevator on the rear of the tractor launched (I mean that literally- it would shoot) whole ears of corn into the wagon.   As the first ears hit the hard wood floor, kernels of corn would come flying off - I remember the sting if  they’d hit my bare skin

        Here’s a clip off  utube that will give you a little idea:

      Aunt Annie  came for a visit  one Fall from Germany.  She  wanted to get a picture of me riding in the wagon.  I remember feeling important that  the old lady with the strange accent and big camera wanted to get a  picture of little old me… Her past was shrouded in mystery. -   There’s definitely a skeleton in the family  closet on this one but since I have no idea whose going to end up reading this, I’m going to leave well enough alone.

    There’s a saying in these parts, “You can take the boy off the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the boy.” 

    Growing up on a farm is a  gift.    I didn’t appreciate it  until years later when we started raising our brood.   We were living in town, our kids were bored, “nothing to do“

 Ever hear that one?  

      It was @ this point my wife looked at me and said “I want to find a farm house- even if we have to rent.”  and the rest is history…we found an old acreage that needed some TLC- they’re still to be had if you keep your ears open- I know of one that’s coming up for sale  you could probably pick up for under $50,000.00- it needs a new well and septic.  My brother has a beautiful 5 acre place for sale for around $175,000.00- that includes  several out buildings, a 2 story farm house, a commercial asparagus patch, and peace and quiet.  I’m so glad  Iowa is often times stereotyped as backwards, flat and boring.  I”ll let you in on a little secret…it’s a myth the locals like to perpetuate.  If you’d like to know what it’s really like around here ..read this

   Well, it’s way past my bed time, so I’m going to wrap this up. As always, thanks for reading my stuff- g-nite- DM

• Алессандра Амбросио (Alessandra Ambrosio)