Serving at Black Forest Academy: Sweet memories of fall chores

I had a reading tutor in 1st grade and remember reading passages over and over again until I could read the passage smoothly. I also remember beginning to read the Little House books around that time. With the combined efforts of a reading tutor and reading about the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the love of reading opened its doors for me.

My favorite Little House book is Farmer Boy. I love how Laura describes Almonzo's childhood with the chores their family did during every season of the year. Descriptions of harvesting and gathering produce in the fall and preparing the fields, animals and family for the coming winter was a favorite part of the book.

Looking back at my childhood, fall memories of doing chores together as a family and preparing for winter is a highlight. Of course, at the time, being forced to go outside and rake leaves, carry wood and haul produce in from the garden wasn't particularly fun. Yet, now those memories are precious as they are times we spent together as a family working.

I thought to take some time and share some of the fall memories of my family with you. Perhaps you have some similar memories of your childhood.

Raking leaves together as a family is a strong memory. Dad would send us all outside, mom too, make sure we all had a rake and we would spread out and rake piles of leaves. I remember dad purchasing a new rake once and it worked so much better than the cheaper rakes we were using. I enjoyed seeing the clear path of the grass as I would rake up the leaves. There is something satisfying in cleaning and clearing up leaves, sticks and debris to make the yard clear, grassy and beautiful again. At least until more leaves fall. We were usually raking leaves as a family when most of the leaves had already fallen. It was a day long activity. Dad created a wooden square-looking cart with removable sides to collect leaves. When the cart was full, he would add the sides to the cart and then dad was the only one who could get the leaves in as the walls were too high for us. Of course, as we made larger piles, we also jumped in them. We had to rake them up again, but it was worth it!

We had a wood stove in our house (dad still has one) so chopping and gathering wood happened every year. Neighbors and friends would notify my dad when they had dead trees and extra wood and he would bring his old trailer (and us!) to help gather up the wood. We would bring it home and stack it up in the woodpile behind the house. During the winter, dad would let us know when the wood box in the basement of the house was getting low and we would don our winter gear, head outside and bring in wood. Probably one of our least favorite chores! Yet, dad was recently sharing that Nathan now enjoys gathering wood and Daniel heads out on trails to help restore them by cutting down fallen trees that have fallen on the trail. Times I have gone hiking with Daniel, he carries his hand saw with him...just in case!

My ultimate favorite chore was helping process garden produce. We would bring in the potatoes, onions and squash and store them in the basement where it was cooler and eat them throughout the winter. While my parents did can some of the produce, dad calls it jarring as jars were used, most of the produce was frozen. Dad remembers one year, early on when there was a lot of squash and they processed squash in the jars. I remember mom trying to make ketchup once which we all laughed at as it was more like ketchup soup. It didn't exactly turn out well. Mom also canned pickles..dill pickles, of course as they were our favorite. Mine especially. Dad made (and still makes) the best tomato soup I have ever tasted! I can remember both mom and dad in the kitchen late at night processing corn to be frozen. They would use an electric knife to shave off the corn kernels then place them into freezer bags then vacuum out the air with a machine. The machine would also heat and seal the bags and they would go into the freezer. Beets, peas and green beans were also frozen and placed into the deep freeze downstairs. I think Nathan was the only one who liked the beets when we were kids. Now, I love beets! In a salad with bleu cheese! Canning jams and jellies was the most fun! We had a rhubarb plant in the garden, strawberry and raspberry bushes in or near the garden, plum trees just behind the shelter belt and chokecherry trees in the far back tree rows. We made strawberry rhubarb jam, raspberry jam, plum jelly and chokecherry jelly and syrup. Chokecherries are very small and a deep purple red color when they are ripe. To process chokecherries, I remember mom sharing how they are simmered in water then left to drip in a colander lined with cheesecloth. We could not squeeze out the juice as the pits of chokecherries have cyanide poison in them. After leaving for several hours until all the juice drips out, the juice is cooked with the sugar and pectin to make jelly. Many of these early experiences of processing food with my family fostered a love of cooking and preserving food for the winter. Today, I enjoy making sauerkraut (just started a batch last evening with a friend), kombucha, pickles and jam.

In the moments of doing chores together as a family, time seems to drag on. There may be (there were!) squabbles with us siblings and our parents strongly encouraging us kids to stop fooling around and get busy! The goal, of course, was to finish whatever job or chore we were doing at the time. Looking back now, these are precious memories to be treasured as times we spent together as a family caring for each other. And ultimately, the goal was to allow God to work and to shine his gospel in our lives as we lived out what a godly family should look like, not perfectly by any means, yet, giving God the glory in spite of our fallen nature.

Here are some photos that my dad found that relate somewhat to what I have shared:

The old trailer that dad used to pick up wood from neighbors and bring back to the house.

This is the wood pile in the shelter belt and is still there!

Dad build this wood shed when we were kids to keep the wood dry throughout the winter.

Dad outside chopping wood! The building behind him is the old wood shed. This building is still there!

Our family standing in front of the newer wood shed. From left to right, me, Josh, Daniel and Nathan. I think Nathan is holding Bootsie, his kitty.

Dad giving us a ride in the wheelbarrow which was also used to carry leaves, garden produce and I remember using to cart my dog, Sparkie around. Although, he didn't like it and would jump out! In this photo, I am in the back, with Daniel in the middle and Nathan in front (I think).