LIFE IN THE 1960s, A SIMPLER TIME ON THE FARM

[Written by Sharon Misener June 26, 2024]

In the 1960s many small farms dotted the lands of Ontario. “Ma and Pa operations” with 100-200 acres of land with 20-40 Holstein cows, sending milk to the local dairy.

As  time went on the farmers retired and the farms were turned into hobby farms or swallowed up by the big farms of today.

I grew upon on a dairy farm in Fenwick, Ontario, was an only child. My maternal grandparents lived two miles down the road in Boyle.

A typical day on the farm, my dad was up at 7 a.m, went to the barn to milk the cows. He came into the house at 9a.m. to have breakfast. His favorite cereal was puffed wheat with a good strong perked coffee from A&P.

We had Holstein cows about 40 along with pigs, chickens and sheep. We sent milk to Sunnyside Dairy in Welland. Had a big bulk tank to keep the milk cool, a truck picked up the milk daily. My mother washed the milking machines, the milkhouse had to be clean.

After school I came home,  and read the Hamilton Spectator Newspaper then made my way to the barn to  feed the cows. They ate chop, silage and hay. I also fed the pigs and calves.

We came into the house and had supper that my mother had prepared. Usually meat, potatoes, vegetables and cake or cookies for dessert. After supper my dad went to the barn to milk the cows. He usually got back to the house about 9 p.m.  Myself I played the piano and did homework, afterwhich I watched a bit of TV.  10P.M.  was the usual bedtime.

My mother grew a big garden, had potatoes, usually enough to last the winter. Also planted tomatoes, onions, radish, cucumber, pumpkin, cabbage lettuce and peppers to name a few.

We also grew raspberries apples, pears, quince and she always canned 5 bushels of peaches each year. In the yard we had lilacs, rhubarb, and willow trees. My mother planted pink petunias, her favorite, also window boxes of colorful flowers.

We had a hammock in the yard, tables and chairs with flowers all around. Many older evergreen trees grew as well.

In many ways we were self-sufficient.We butchered a cow to have frozen and canned meat. My mother also froze and canned vegetables and fruits. Many weekends I would bake cookies  and freeze them.

I went to a one-room school at Boyle, we had grades 1-6, with one teacher. For grades 7-8 I went to Wellandport and for high school Pelham High in Fenwick.

At Boyle we had one teacher who seemed to control the classroom.We had special events at Christmas. I played the piano. We had a concert and a play where the community could attend. Valentines Day we had special treats gave each other valentines. One year we brought our skates and skated on the neighbor’s  pond.. There was a field day in Wellandport. We boarded a bus and participated in the field day events.

We had a little library, I remember reading all of the Nancy Drew books. We played marbles, skip rope, Simon says, and baseball.

During the summer I worked on the farm, drove the tractor for haying, baled hay and stooked it. I also sewed my mother shift dresses for summer and made clothes for myself.. I also mowed the grass all summer which took 3 hours to mow.

I had a dog names Petunia, she would fetch the cows from the field. I remember a time when the cows crossed the bridge over the Welland River and a cow decided to swim across the river, I held my breath.

I had a swing near the Boyle Road and watched the  traffic on Hwy 57.I spent many hours contemplating life on the swing.

On a Sunday afternoon my dad might take  a drive around the countryside. When I was 16 I got my drivers license.. The bridge was out between out farms so I had to drive bales of hay around the farms..

One year m dad gave me  a calf—a Hereford, I called her Morticia. Then one day my dad sold her.I was so sad.

At the end of the summer my dad ask what I wanted, I said I wanted a typewriter. I had the typewriter for years and wrote many stories. One year my dad made me a bookcase, which I still have today.

Christmas on the farm was a special time. My dad would go to the bush and cut down a tree and my mother would put it in the livingroom and decorate  it with lights and tinsel. I would help her decorate too. My parents never traded Christmas gifts. Myself I received three gifts, stiffed animals, clothes and dolls.

We would have my maternal grandparents for Christmas dinner. My mother made dark Christmas cake. She cooked and stuffed a turkey along with potatoes, vegetables and salad. Dessert was jello and whipped cream.

I wrote letters to Santa in Buffalo, NY, still have his photo. My mother sent many cards and received many in return.