Facts From Down on the Farm

I went out to the old family farm this week to see a shed someone had taken down and carted off to his place to build a 'Pioneer village'.  We were happy to ablige him and the place looks better for it. 

He asked about some small buildings, too.  Here are a few I remember. 

 The 'Egg House' had thick walls and no window, to keep the inside cool for the storage of the eggs until we took them to market.  We also cleaned, sorted and boxed the eggs here as well.  I have many fond memories of awaking early every day to feed the chickens and gather the eggs before going to school.  Sometimes we had as many as seven large pens of chickens with up to 500 in each pen.

There is the 'Mash House' were we kept the chicken feed that was delivered monthly.  An opening in the top allowed an auger from the truck to shuttle the feed from his tank into the shed.  Mash was a mixture of ground corn, grain, nutrients and such to feed fowl and livestock.  I remember Dad saying it cost a lot when the Intermountain Farmer bill came, possibly several hundred dollars, which was a lot of money back then. 

We filled buckets full from the Mash House, then carried them to each chicken coop dumping it into long troughs.   

I have great memories of the chickens and being their caretaker.   If only I had appreciated the work more.  It is in maturity that we grow through our past experiences.