January 27, 1983 - Some Warm--and Cold--Memories of WinterJanuary 27, 1983
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The Ntko- 3kebieb, Page 13
FARM BUILDINGS - -Most farm buildings look dormant during the winter
months but there's usually activity going on inside preparing for another
season not too far away.
Some Warm - -and Co-id--Memories
For many, winter days can be quite
dreary. Cold, overcast and windy -- there's
not much you can say about them to cheer
you up. Perhaps that's why most things in
the natural world sleep through this slack
time of year. The nurseryman calls it a
resting or dormant period for plants and
trees alike. In the animal world it would be
called hibernation. Most things are
changed little as the winter months grind
on. Yet somehow there is always that
spark of renewal just waiting for the days
to grow longer and the temperature to
climb back up again.
Years ago when working for a farm
equipment company, I can well remember
leaving for work in the dark and coming
home in the dark. Those were the days
when you worked six days a week. It was
quite a grind, but the job did have an
advantage in that the company provided
me with a pickup truck for transportation
so I could visit the farmers. This opened a
whole new world for me. Now I could reach
every corner of our island.
During the winter months most farmers
overhauled their own farm machinery.
Other winter jobs were grading potatoes or
packing sprouts while still others were
killing pigs or butchering steer.
Sometimes I'd visit farms where they
would be busy making sausage or head
cheese out in the back shed. Often I'd
speak to a farmer as he ground the valves
of an old "H" tractor that stood undressed
nearby in the barn.
Or perhaps I'd get to visit them in the
house. A lot of business was done in the
kitchen. It was the center of much activity,
always warm and always immaculately
clean. Occasionally I'd get an order for
spring delivery but most of the time it was
merely just country talk. It was here I
found out how dedicated the farmer was to
the land. No quick decisions were made.
Oh, no. Long thought and much
deliberation went into any decision that
had to do with the farm.
I got to know many farmers, not
intimately, but close enough so that I still
recognize some of them even though it's
been thirty years or more since I last saw
them. I'm sure most have forgotten me by
now but the years of working with those
staunch individualistic farmers with their
own special traits will never be forgotten.
Farmers "Up Lot"
During the summer months I got to know
almost every farm lot for now the farmer
was up in the fields working. I'd stop by the
house or barn and ask where Bill or Ed
was and they'd usually reply, "He's up
lot." I'd know where to drive, how not to
get stuck and usually where he'd be
working. It sort of came naturally after a
while.
It was on these trips that I got to know
the roadside flowers, bushes and trees and
being interested in photography I always
carried my camera with me and tried to
record every bit of the outside world I
could. Often I'd have to go to the south side
or the west end and whenever possible I'd
take the back roads.
The Manorville and Calverton roads
were my true joys. Seems there was
another world tucked away back of those
woods. I remember an old family there
that had no inside plumbing and during the
winter when all the water was frozen
including anything in the house, they'd go
milk the cow and prime the pump with the
warm milk. That sounded like frontier life
to me and I'm sure to them it was.
I got to know the streams and rivers, the
ponds and lakes of Long Island during
those early years when I traveled around
for LIP. We had hour lunch breaks and like
many men still on the road today I'm sure,
looked for a nice place to eat -- down on the
beach, on the edge of a lake, beside the
river or off into the pine barrens. These
places and many, many more proved a
backdrop for pondering and
photographing during lunchtime.
Snowy days seldom stopped me from
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traveling, but once it almost did. I was
going along Sound Avenue just after a light
snowfall. The plows had been out and left a
small edge of snow just inside the
roadway. Why we do some things I'll never
know but this edge of snow six or eight
inches high disturbed me and I was bound
to eliminate it by running over it with my
front wheel as I drove along. I did a fine
job of destroying it and splashing it about
but in doing so the front wheel spun off to
the side and threw me in a spin. I tried to
pull myself back on the road but found
myself spinning in a complete circle so
that I was actually heading in the opposite
direction I had been going. I slid to a full
stop! I looked in the mirror and could see a
snowplow coming full tilt in my direction. I
quickly stepped on the gas and sped away
in the same direction I had come, hoping
I'd never have to face that snowplow
driver. From then on I appreciated snowy
roads a lot more.
For five years I drove around most of
RESTAURANT
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
of Winter
Long Island wherever there were farms
always looking for the wonders about that
I could capture on film. It could be snow
buntings alongside of the newly- plowed
road or dainty lady tresses just off the road
in a damp spot. Perhaps I'd just stop to
check on a hawk that sat in an old dead
tree "up lot."
True winter months can be dreary but
with the help of bird feeders that we can
watch from our windows, a few house
plants to take care of indoors and an
occasional trip up street where we can
keep an eye out for this or that, we'll get
through these winter months all right. The
real hope is that spark of life I spoke about
in those dormant plants and trees and
curled un bodies awaiting the warmth of
spring. For it is this spark when set free by
longer days (and they are getting longer)
and warmer temperatures (not yet) that
will burst out and spring will once again be
with us.
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