EPISODE 465 BLACK WALNUTS…WHAT CAN WE DO WITH THEM?
alan skeoch
oct. 2021
Every year someone gets conked with a falling black walnut. Like getting hit with a world series hardball.
This year it was Marjorie’s turn. She got wopped on the bare upper arm as she diligently tried to gather
the walnuts before the cursed red squirrels got hem hidden away in the barns.
Now we differ on black walnuts. I like them and have planted a number of trees on our farm. Marjorie does
not like them at all. A subject of some tension each year as the walnuts fall. they are edible but getting to
the walnut meat requires a sledge hammer and careful hand picking the walnut meat from the tooth breaking
shards. Red squirrel teeth are better at this than human teeth. A walnut shard is capable of breaking the
best of human teeth. So walnuts are just wasted. We race to get as many as we can before
the red squirrels. Then what should we do with the baskets of nuts? There was a time when I
pitch walnuts along the Ontario side roads like Johny Appleseed did. Now I take credit for a lot of walnut
trees in full growth with their progeny ‘whopping’ a few cars no doubt.
what to do with this year’s crop? “Let’s put them in Andrew Skeoch’s fire it.” “Not far enough away, the red
squirrels will find them and bring them back.” “What should we do with the red squirrels.?” “Call Jackson Skeoch, he
may have an answer.”
In short black walnut season is a troubled time.
Yes, black walnuts float. Ghastly site each year on our small pond nearest the house.
Black walnuts are killers. Their root system is toxic to other trees. I made the mistake of planting a hickory tree
within 20 feet of a walnut tree. For three decades the two have been sparring beneath the ground. This year
the hickory died and the black walnut celebrated by filling the pond with nuts. I hope the floating nuts do not
hurt our snapping turtle as he or she sleeps for the winter at the bottom of the pond.
Marjorie is smiling. A forced smile as she made me look at her bruised arm.
Math problem for you…what speed can a falling walnut reach before it hits the ground…or before it got Marjoie?
Here is one cache of the red squirrel…we got them
EPISODE 466 LEAVES CHANGE COLOUR …MEANS WINTER IS COMNG
EPISODE 466 LEAVES CHANGE COLOUR…MEANS WINTER IS COMING
alan skeoch
oct. 2021
The older we get there faster the seasons change. Seems like no time between the autumn leaves
of 2020 and those of this year 2021. Maybe that is because we have been mentally caged up by Covid 19.
Or maybe it is just a function of age
EPISODE 464 THE LUMPER POTATO…AND THE GREAT HUNGER IN IRELAND
EPISODE 464 THE LUMPER POTATO…AND THE GREAT HUNGER IN IRELAND
EPISODE 464 IRELAND….POTATO FIELD ON EDGE OF THE SEA
episode 464 POTATO FIELD ON EDGE OF THE SEA
alan skech
oct. 2021
TINY potato fields were still common in Ireland such as this one being tended by an Irish octogenarian in the 1960’s. There was
a time, before the Potato Famine of the 1840’s, when 40% of the Irish population depended upon these little fields for their
survival. And when the potato plant failed starvation, death, or flight from Ireland often in decrepit ‘coffin’ ships designed to bring hand hewn timbers
to Britain.
The potato had the power to change the world for good or ill. Sometimes both good and ill at the same time.
Historian Charles Mann wrote an astounding article titled “How The Potato Changed the World” In the November issue of
Scientific American.
His article gave much meaning to the picture I took in 1960 of this Irish farmer and his potato crop grown on the edge
of a cliff hanging above the Atlantic Ocean. A rocky field. On the left is a rock pile presumably moved from the field.
When disease shrivelled the potato fields in 19th century Europe, devastation followed. Ireland
suffered worse than other European nations, all of which discovered they could no longer feed
their people.
So many people were alive in he 19th century that some wondered how they all could be fed.
. Population had expanded…indeed exploded due to the arrival of potatoes in
Europe from their origin high in the Peruvian mountains where potato plants originated. My cousin
James Townsend, an agronomist, has climbed through the unusual fields of Peru where the potato
is almost worshipped. I remember Jim describing the incredible variety of Peruvian potatoes.
There are around 5,000 varieties of potatoes, many of which do not look
like the potatoes we eat boiled, mashed or chipped. Some are tiny. Some are red..or purple, or white…
or all colours of the rainbow. Some are so toxic that they can only be eaten if covered in mud because
the mud neutralize the toxins
Europe came to rely on just five six varieties brought back to Europe by Spanish “conquerors” as
they systematically dismembered the Inca Empires of the Americas. Safe to say that those
potato plants were ultimately worth more than all the gold shipped as well.
photo by Martin Meja, AP, as in Scientific American, Nov. 2011
Today potatoes are the fifth most important food crop in the world. After wheat, corn, rice and sugar.
Another historian, Alfred Crosby, used the expression Columbian Exchange to highlight the way
Europeans affected life in the Americans…and the reverse, the way the Americas affected
western Europe. Two ecosystems collided. Wheat and potatoes. Which was the better
food crop? Which was more productive? Which was easier to harvest? Which provided more
nourishment per acre? The potato. THE POTATO!
Wheat field canoe blown flat by the wind? rains of wheat can also get too heavy and drop to the groud
if harvested late? The loaded wheat grains fall over. Potatoes are very different. They
are tubers. They grow under the ground. Hardier in that sense. And potatoes provided more
nutrion per acre…much more. Irish cottagers could live on the potatoes they grew in
their tiny stoney fields. Harvesting is easier using potato forks or potato plows rather than combine harvesters.
Potatoes can grow very large. Charles Mann describes one potato farmer harvested a 25 lb. potato
bigger than his head. One year we grew potatoes on a field that had been fallow for two decades.
The harvest was amazing. Huge potatoes. Baskets of them. But only happened that one year
Our harvest this year is pathetic. Why? Land exhaustion…need guano and lots of it.
IMPACT OF THE POTATO ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS
Another historian…William Macneill…argued “the potato” by feeding rapidly growing populations,
permitted a handful of European nations to assert dominion over most the world between 1750 and 1950″
Effects
1)The potato Ended the famines which had been common when population outgrew food supply
2) Triggered the rise of wester civilization. Between 1750 and 1850 the potato…cheap, easy
to produce food brought increase on population…industrial revolution …urbanization.
3) Guanno followed the potato. Use of fertilizer multiplied food production even more.
Shiploads of bird dung from islands off coast of South America changed agriculture.
Some of these deposits of dung were as much as 150 feet thick. This ancient supply has been
exhausted. Today the chemical industry provides most of fertilizer
4) And when potato plants failed due to beetles and disease another new industry grew…the pesticide
industry which by the 1940’s and 1950’s was using ever stronger forms of arsenic as
a control. Arsenic kills potato beetles. (lethal to us as well)
5) Pesticide industry is killing insects we depend upon such as honey bees. We seem to e
approaching a huge global problem.
This expanding food production is called The Green Revolution. So far we are able to
feed everyone…basic food for many…limited food for some.
But there is a limit. Ireland found that limit when the potato plants failed. The effect was
devastating.
This was the tiny potato field tended by Mr. Kennedy in Bonmahon in 1960. When we returned on a tour in 1965 his potato
field was grass. I don’t know what happened but it underscored that there are limits to global food production.
Much more can be said but the hour is late.
alan skeoch
oct. 2021
EPISODE 463 IRELAND… EXPLORATION AT BUNMAHON AND CLFFS OF MOHER (AND TWO PUBS) (CIRCA 1980)
EPISODE 463 IRELAND… EXPLORATION AT BUNMAHON AND CLIFFS OF MOHER AND TWO PUBS (CIRCA1980)
alan skeoch
Oct. 2021
WELL, here we are back in Ireland once again because I promised Aidan Coffey I would send all pics I could find. Some of these
were taken around 1980 when Marjorie and I took our boys, Kevin and Andrew, on a tour of the mines of the Copper Coast
before it became a tourists attraction.
Marjorie did not like the idea of scaling the cliffs and crawling through an ancient adit. The boys loved the idea … exciting and frightening.
Their eyes say much.
GRADUALLY the adit got larger and larger until we cold stand up…see Andrew above.
Copper stain oN the wall.
One of the shafts still held in place by a piece of lumber it seems. Not far below was water
that has filled most of he mine thereby preserving it for all time.
Then we visited the Cliffs of Moher. See the boys top left.
The cliffs are not fenced. As a result people take risks as Kevin and Andrew are doing here.
The haunting music of he Cliffs of Moher on violin and tin flute.
Not too sure what this fellow thought of us.
Always … it is easy to be welcomed in an Irish pub.
EPISODE 462 OF HUMANS AND DINOSAURS AND SURVIVAL
EPISODE 462 OF HUMANS AND DINOSAURS AND SURVIVAL
alan skeoch
Oct. 2021
Note: I originally wrote this article in 2018 for no particular reason.
Interest in our short time on planet earth might have been the reason.
Today the issue of Climate Change seems to be accelerating. So
the story below may have current interest. It is a much shortened version of the original. No doubt I have made mistakes in this
article so consider it an early primer rather than a definitive authority.
An article to make you wonder.
We dominate the planet earth in this year 2021. Sure. Iinsects outnumber us but we…human beings,..dominate this obscure planet in our obscure solar systemin a universe so large that we cannot ever understand its size. We are home here on earth. We move around a lot using. for the most part, mysterious pools of oil that we find hereand there beneath the earth’s surface. Oil created by the pressure of ancient sediments on the equally ancient bodies of creatures that once lived on our earth millions and millions of yearsago. Creatures deep in the depths of time that once dominated the earth as we do today. How long were these creatures around? A lot longer that we have been. Millions of yearslonger than us. Hard to believe…very hard to believe.
7FFC5714-0B86-4079-AC9C-9B84B7193C89@hitronhub.home>” src=”blob:https://mail.google.com/10a94ebb-163a-45f8-85a0-39f6f97a9482″ alt=”Two reconstructions of Homo erectus” type=”application/x-apple-msg-attachment” class=”gmail-Apple-web-attachment gmail-Singleton” style=”opacity: 1;”>
Reconstructed faces of homo erectus, our ancient ancestor who seems to have emerged some 2 to 4.5 million years ago. (various sources) Homo Sapiens, (ourselves in other words) emerged from homo erectus some 400,000 to 600,000 years ago. (various sources)
Both of these people (term?) could walk erect which freed their hands for the making of tools. Tool making took a long time to reach today’s incredible sophistication. One break point was the emergence of civilized
society in ancient Irag some 2,000 to 3, 000 years ago. What tool? Lots to choose from but for the sake of argument I have chosen the pencil. Pencil? OK, wrong term but you will get the idea. Ancient Sumerians developed
a form of writing using a sharpened stick making a variety of indentations on wet clay. So the Sumerian form of a pencil, to my mind, was the break point between a nomadic intelligent human beings and settled civilized
human beings with more time on their hands to invent increasingly more sophisticated tools culminating in the iPhone of today.
How long have we been around”? Not very long at all. Creatures from which we have evolved were moving about on land and sea some six million years ago. But they were notremotely like us really. They just became us. Modern humans evolved 200,000 years ago I am told. They may have looked like us a bit. But shocking to modern eyes. Creatures like us are very recentwanderers through the thin atmosphere that hugs planet earth. Only 6,000 years ago did we emerge and began our way to dominance.None of this would have happened had trees and plants not emerged first. Green plants breathe in CO2…extract the carbon…and exhale oxygen. Our atmosphere contains the 20% oxygen that we need to breathe. If we climb too high on our mountain ranges, we cannot breathe. We die. We dare not delve deep into our oceans for we are unwelcome there.Civilization as we know it today…industrial civilization…emerged just 200 years ago with the industrial revolution. My oh my have we done well. We are tool users and tool makerspar excellence. We are also extremely vain. Few of us ever think about our tenancy on this round ball hurtling through space. Most of us think we will always behere…all 7 billion of us. Our population has doubled in less than 100 years. A hundred years is just a fleck of time…nothing.“Change,” it has been said, “is the only sure thing in life.” Change, however, can be very slow when measured against the lifespan of human beings. Almost imperceptible really.Changes are happening though. I noticed the first Opossum in Ontario just 30 years ago. Now those sharp nosed, rat tailed, creatures are common in Ontario. Not as cold up hereas it used to be. And the gingko trees, most ancient red on earth, are moving north as well. Disconcerting things are happening. Frogs are disappearing. Frogs that oncenumbered in the billions sometimes so thick on country roads that they were squished by our rubber tired gasoline consuming transport machines. Changes are happening. The greatsheets of ice that once capped the north and south poles of planet earth are melting. Our planet is getting hotter. This heat is changing earth as we know it.Where is this going? First, I would like to prick our ego inflated vanity. And second, having achieved my first goal, I would like to consider those ancient creatureswho preceded us millions and millions of years ago. In particular the dinosaurs. These huge creatures were not alone on the earth but their fossilized remains have struck wonderinto human psyches from the first moment they were found. For the last two centuries, while our inventions have made life easier for all of us, we have at the same time marvelledat the bones, the teeth in particular, found in ancient sedimentary rocks. This includes coal deposits. Coal has been created by the compressed bodies of ancient forests whosedeaths were abruptly covered by mud and water where they could not rot and return to the atmosphere as rotting vegetation normally does. In among these sedimentary layers ofrock were the fossilized bones of creatures once dominating the earth as we dominate today.Two events have triggered this interest on my part. First is my bathroom reading material of late. A BBC book on the ages of dinosaurs. A book that makes my mind soar deep into a dark past thatI cannot fully understand. The second event occurred at a warehouse remainder sale on Cawthra Road. A salvage operation where goods gathered from bankruptcies are marketed cheaply.Among the goods on November 22, 2018, was a collection of dinosaur claws…evil looking things designed to rip flesh. The ancient residents of our earth was ‘red in tooth and claw’ asDarwinians would say. “Survival of the Fittest’ was real and happened over millions of years. Slowly. ”Extinctions happened in the deep past. At least five major extinction events have been identified by earth scientists. All five are somewhat mysterious. the extinction event thatwiped out the dinosaurs is thought to be the arrival of a large meteor that slammed into the Gulf of Mexico and covered the earth with so much dust that the sun could notbreak through to trigger photosynthesis denying living creatures plants to eat and plants to maintain a livable level of oxygen. That happened 65 million years ago most scientistsbelieve. Other, even more devastating extinction events have occurred deeper in the past. Just staring at the moon on a nice summer evening or on a crisp winter night should remindus that we have been bombarded by space objects in the past. The surface of the moon is devoid of life…no water (or very little water frozen in its icy form)…nothing obscures the beating it has taken…each meteor has left a mark.EB774BB8-E652-4809-9AE5-13D8001C5D13@hitronhub.home>” src=”blob:https://mail.google.com/83430ac0-6dcb-446f-acc3-2e8c49b9cd24″ alt=”Ni1AidyVSxKl3qkvPmroFw_thumb_977b2.jpeg” class=”gmail-Apple-web-attachment gmail-Singleton” type=”application/x-apple-msg-attachment” style=”opacity: 1;”>7D5CF7A7-2C26-41FC-9195-596EB5B33F73@hitronhub.home>” src=”blob:https://mail.google.com/7b294da4-c815-4e0a-b9e1-7785eb601ccd” alt=”8M3XHD2xQlikj4GjxRf2EQ_thumb_977b5.jpeg” class=”gmail-Apple-web-attachment gmail-Singleton” type=”application/x-apple-msg-attachment” style=”opacity: 1;”>D8B8F9CE-2438-4D66-8F18-F3AC787B9CDD@hitronhub.home>” src=”blob:https://mail.google.com/9acf52a0-0a7c-456c-bcca-6bb058128e5e” alt=”3RYkRZKtRBqWT3W3R29AnA_thumb_977b1.jpeg” class=”gmail-Apple-web-attachment gmail-Singleton” type=”application/x-apple-msg-attachment” style=”opacity: 1;”>
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Amazing that these vicious looking fingers from two ancient dinosaurs have survived. One is a replica of the hooked thumb of Boronyxm a creature that lived in the Early Cretaceous Period some
125 million years ago. And the other is the first toe of a dinosaur familiar to us all, good old Tyranosaurus Rex who gorged himself (herself) on the flesh of other dinosaurs up until his abrupt extinction 65 million years ago.
He (or she) was the last of the dinosaurs. Tyranosaurus Rex dinosaurs emerged late in the age of dinosaurs but still lived for millions of years. Let’s arbitrarily say TR (acronym) species existed for two million years…evolving 67 million years ago and terminated by that massive meteor 65 million years ago. Two million years TR’s scavenged flesh wherever it was found.
So what? So we human beings emerged 200,000 years ago but really appeared “Human” 6,000 years. Even then we were primitive creatures. The sophisticated humans who could write and
form civilized society are 2,000 years old linked to Sumerian civilization in modern day Iraq. So let’s compare our longevity to that of TR. 2 million divided bye 200,000 means we have been around only .001 years compared.
if the number 6,000 is divided into 2 million the result is .00003. Mere infants. And if we chose ancient Sumer as the year we became fully evolved the number becomes .00001. Hopefully we will live for more than 2 million years as did TR. But the prospects are not good. We may be just a flash in the pan; as they say.
POSTSCRPT: IN case you meet a TR, remember he or she can
out run you. Were creatures like us around in the age of dinosaurs?
Yes….our mammal ancestors were there, probably as mice like creatures which were too small for TR to want to eat. By good luck these tiny
mammals seem to have survived the fifth extinction. How? I have no idea…
A89D92F5-D276-4AD6-B7E7-865B83534810@hitronhub.home>” src=”blob:https://mail.google.com/9d8da58f-5ce9-45a2-b879-befcb4e095c6″ alt=”Tyrannosaurus by Paul Heaston” type=”application/x-apple-msg-attachment” class=”gmail-td-attachment-page-image gmail-Apple-web-attachment gmail-Singleton” style=”opacity: 1;”>Quick Tyrannosaurus Facts
- This dinosaur had 60 razor sharp teeth
- The teeth on the Tyrannosaurus could be up to 9 inches long
- This dinosaur used its tail to maintain balance
- The Tyrannosaurus weighed as much as an Asian Elephant
- This dinosaur’s top speed was about 18 MPH—faster than humans!
EPISODE 461 SIKORSKY HELICOPTERS ON BERING SEA GAS DROP
EPISODE 461 SIKORSKY HELICOPTERS ON BERING SEA GAS DROP
alan skeoch
oct. 2021
On the Alaska job in 1959 everything needed had to be ferried by
S 52 helicopters to the site in the interior of SW Alaska…the barren lands.
Gasoline was hung in a cargo net beneath the helicopter with an
emergency lever beside the pilot. In the event of a sudden downdraft
he would hit the lever and drop the load. I was told (ture or false) that
a diamond drill hung in this fashion had to be suddenly dropped in a
sudden down draft. No one ever tried to retrieve it as it fell like a great
speer into the spongy land below.
We were ferried to our job sites every morning by S 52's from our base camp when the ex-US air force pilots would yell into the loud speaker.
“Let's get fucking airborne”.
As mentioned in an earlier Episode, our 5 man Canadian crew were
all armed with 30-06 rifles in case of Kodiak bear attacks. We could
not carry the rifles and the survey gear so stacked the rifles at the
drop site each day. No Kodiak bear attacked us. Why? I was told
bears find the smell of humans awful. Probably true in our case.
This job on the Alaskan barren lands was my training field for the
job in Ireland in 1960…thanks to field man Bill Morrison.
Our base camp held 30 men … 5 Canadians and 25 American diamond
drillers. Too many had revolvers in my opinion…and used them
too often. One of the drillers (nice guy normally) said” “Watch this!”
And he made a quick draw from his holster and fired at a beaver in
the creek below camp. He killed the poor thing. He did not mean to
do this. This incident is one reason I dislike guns. People do stupid
things with guns.
alan skeoch
P.S. When the job was over the camp was bull dozed over the
little cliff and covered with rubbish and soil. Too expensive to
retrieve. The site may become one of the largest copper mining
sites in the US…but is currently just a barren land with creeks
annually filled with salmon trying to spawn and then die much to
the enjoyment of kodiak bears…all of whom are well fed.
Canadian crew….Mike Chinnery (boss), Dr. John Stam (boss),
Don Van Every, Ian Rutherford, Bill Morrison and Alan Skeoch (field men…realy university of Toronto students)
Location….Dillingham, Alaska on Bering Sea which was once
the land bridge from Siberia to North America 10, 000 years ago.
Fwd: EPISODE 445 IRISH STORIES: I WAS A POOR PAYMASTER (I NOW REALIZE 61 YEARS TO LATE)
Begin forwarded message:
From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>Subject: Fwd: EPISODE 445 IRISH STORIES: I WAS A POOR PAYMASTER (I NOW REALIZE 61 YEARS TO LATE)Date: October 9, 2021 at 7:41:01 PM EDTTo: John Myers <jjcm1946@sympatico.ca>, John Wardle <john.t.wardle@gmail.com>, Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>, Marjorie Skeoch <marjorieskeoch@gmail.com>, alan.skeoch1@gmail.com
Note:John Wardle…tell me if you get this episode
EPISODE 445 IRISH SORIES: I WAS A POOR PAYMASTER (I NOW REALIZE 61 YEARS LATER)alan skeochOct. 2021FRIDAY WAS PAYDAY IN THE SHACK BEHIND THE KENNEDY STORE…WITH FREE CIGARETTESBeing a paymaster was quite a shock on the Irish job. I hired a lot of people and was told by someone that an Irish pound a daywas the going wage for unskilled labour. Seemed OK to the men. As i now know the wage wasridiculously low. The real wage in Ireland in 1960 was $1.25 per hour (U.S)…about 6 to 7 pounds per day.How did I not know? IGNORANCE. I Used my own wage as a template. I was being paid $400 a month…about $5 a day for skilled labour so the difference wasnot really that great but my wage included room and board. Not luxury living.On bush jobs we worked 7 days a week, cookedour own meals and slept in tents (enveloped in clouds of blood sucking insects).The Irish job was five days a week. Luxury.
There seemed to be much unemployment in and around Bunmahon.So I tried to hire as many men as I could. There was a need for a large crew.Three men doing Turam readings myself and Barney with console another man with lead coiland cable with 100 foot spacingTwo men to guard our grounding rods and motorThree to four men as linecuttersTwo men to patrol the base line and try to stop cattle from eating cable.
I suppose Barney must have seemed unnecessary to our boss in Canada. Explanation… “I need Barney to help me over the stoneand Gorse fence rows…and to watch for charging bulls or hungry boars.” “I need him because it is impossible to run when in fullTuram harness.” Now who could believe that? Barney’s rolewas also to protect me from tics as much as possible. The cattle were infested with them making their noses look likepin cushions. Where did they get the tics? From the tall grass and scrub bushes in the fence rows. Barney was alsoa buffer when confronted with angry farmers…many of whom wanted payment for damaged crops or stunned animals.I do not know if anyone made such payments.So these men earned their money. I did not realize how small was their pay until I started to look at the cost of living and salariesin Ireland in 1960.STATSTICSThe average family income in the 1960’s was around $5,800. The tax rate back then was 20%, and minimum wage was $1.25/hour. Bacon – 79¢ per lb. Bananas – 10¢ per lb.“); display: inline-block; height: 24px; width: 24px; margin-top: -1px; transform: rotateZ(-180deg);”>
Fwd: EPISODE 250 THIS STORY MADE ME CRY…AND I WROTE THE DAMN THING
Begin forwarded message:
From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>Subject: Re: EPISODE 250 THIS STORY MADE ME CRY…AND I WROTE THE DAMN THINGDate: February 12, 2021 at 5:55:36 PM ESTTo: Edward Moskal <edmoskal@gmail.com>
I was probably gone by then…retired in 1999…although the unusual Micah seems to ring a bell.Thanks for asking.
On Feb 12, 2021, at 5:32 PM, Edward Moskal <edmoskal@gmail.com> wrote:
The mention of Parkdale CI reminds me that a grandson of mine was a student there. Do you by any chance remember a Micah Fysh?
EPISODE 250 THIS STORY MADE ME CRY…AND I WROTE THE DAMN THINGalan skeochFeb 2021NOTE: Brian Mallindine, ex Parkdale student found my stories and put a bunchtogether. I do not want to sound vain but, truth be told, Parkdale C. I. was hometo me and so many of my fellow teachers. It is not vanity to write about home.Sit down, the story is long…Alan’s OeuvreFwd: PARKDALE C.I. FLASHBACK: HE’S DEAD, SIR! MURDERED! SHOT TO DEATH TODAY! (FROM ALAN SKEOCH)
Fwd: EPISODE 356 OUR FARM IN 1958 AND WAY BACK IN 1914 WHEN IT WAS REALLY A FARM
Begin forwarded message:
From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>Subject: Fwd: EPISODE 356 OUR FARM IN 1958 AND WAY BACK IN 1914 WHEN IT WAS REALLY A FARMDate: June 3, 2021 at 3:34:15 PM EDTTo: Marjorie Skeoch <marjorieskeoch@gmail.com>
Begin forwarded message:
From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>Subject: EPISODE 356 OUR FARM IN 1958 AND WAY BACK IN 1914 WHEN IT WAS REALLY A FARMDate: June 2, 2021 at 9:40:45 PM EDTTo: Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>, Marjorie Skeoch <marjorieskeoch@gmail.com>, John Wardle <jwardle@rogers.com>
NOTE: I HOPE THESE PICS MAKE SENSE…GIVE AN IMPRESSION OF THEIMPORTANCE OF THE FREEMAN FARM AS ALL OF US TOOK OUR HUMAN JOURNEYEPISODE 356 OUR FARM IN 1958 AND WAY BACK IN 1914 WHEN IT WAS REALLY A FARM
alan skeochJune 3, 2021THE TERM HARDSCRABBLE FARM WAS INVENTED TO DESCRIBE OUR FAMILYFARM IN THE DAYS WHEN MAKING A LIVING FARMING WAS VERY DIFFICULT.TODAY IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE ON A 25 ACRE FARM LIKE THIS…ALL SWAMPSAND STONEY FIELDS. BUT GRANDMA LOUISA FREEMAN AND GRANDPAEDWARD FREEMAN MANAGED TO MAKE A LIVING AND RAISE TWO CHILDREN.…AND ENJOY THEIR LIVES.ALAN SKEOCH ALAN SKEOCH AND ARNOLD ‘RED’ SKEOCHTHIS IS ELSIE (FREEMAN) SKEOCH WITH GRANDSON KEVIN. SHE WAS THE PERSON THAT INHERITED THE FARM IN 1958 AND MANAGEDTO PAY THE TAXES AND THE UPKEEP AFTER GRANDMA AND GRANDPA DIED. HOW SHE DID THAT IS A MYSTERY, FOR EVERY PENNYSHE EARNED WAS DONE WITH A SEWING MACHINE .. MUCH OF THE TIME IN SWEATSHOPS. A GREAT WOMAN…OUR MOTHER.DAD’S MONEY WENT TO FEED HORSES AT RACETRACKS ACROSS ONTARIO AND NEW YORK STATE. MOM WAS MUCH MORE CAREFUL.DAD WAS ONE OF THE GREAT CHARACTERS OF THIS WORLD. LOVABLE BUT IRRESPONSIBLE. THEIR MARRIAGE WAS A GOOD ONE.MY BROTHER ERIC AND I WERE CITY BOYS REALLY BUT THE FREEMAN FARMWAS ALWAYS A PLACE WHERE WE WOULD BE WELCOMED…INDEED , APLACE WHERE WE WERE WANTED. ANYTIME. A SECOND HOME.