Farm Stories

Dear Grandchildren,

Because you go to the farm every week in Virginia, I thought you would like to read some stories about my grandma's life growing up on the farm in Riverton, Utah. After listening to all the fun she had with her sisters and parents, I wanted to live on a farm too. I hope you like the stories.

Horses

We used to ask Grandma Poulson if she had horses on her farm. "They were not for fun," she would reply. "Farm horses had to do work." Tehya, would you like that? After hearing the following story, I do not think I would have ridden horses on their farm, either.

Aunt VaLoris, your great-grandma's sister, was riding a big farm horse back to the barn. He had been working in the fields all day and was very hungry. As they approached the open doorway to the barn, the big horse started to run. VaLoris held on tighter and tried to stop the horse before he entered the barn, because the door was too short for her to fit through while riding on the horse. Unfortunately,
VaLoris was very little, and the horse was very determined to go home. The horse did not stop at the low, open door. As he ran into the barn, VaLoris was knocked off the horse, and she landed in the dirt, crying. Her fall scared her Dad and sisters. VaLoris was not really hurt, just surprised. I don't know if she rode any more horses, but after that great-grandma decided to look at horses and not ride them.

Cats

When I was a little girl my family had a gray, pet cat called Pussy Willow. Carol, Janet and I loved that cat. My Mother never would admit to liking Pussy Willow, but she was very sad when the cat died of old age; she would never get another one. She had lots of cats on the farm in Riverton. One time she counted 26 cats! Imagine that. They were all wild cats, finding their own food and living in the barn. She remembered climbing up to the hay loft and looking for baby kittens. With all those cats, they always had baby kittens. Even though the mother cats would hiss at them, the three sisters would hold the tiny kittens and play with them. Times changed and Grandpa Webb had to sell the farm. The man who bought the farm saw all the cats and said that the first thing he would do was get rid of all the cats. He hated cats. Grandpa Webb just smiled and kept silent. Several months later the new farm owner called my Grandpa and asked him what he did to take care of all the mice on the farm. He complained about hundreds of mice running everywhere. Grandpa just laughed and said, "That's why I had all those cats." Do you think the man went out and found some cats? I think so.

More farm stories soon. Love,
Grandma Pat