{"id":6840,"date":"2020-12-09T11:46:24","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T16:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=6840"},"modified":"2020-12-09T11:52:18","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T16:52:18","slug":"fwd-episode-191-rocks-are-our-best-crop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=6840","title":{"rendered":"Fwd: EPISODE 191 .ROCKS ARE OUR BEST CROP"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n
Begin forwarded message:<\/div>\n


<\/p>\n


<\/span><\/div>\n
Subject: <\/b><\/span>EPISODE 191       ROCKS ARE OUR BEST CROP<\/b>
<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
EPISODE 187    ROCKS ARE OUR BEST CROP<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

<\/div>\n
Jack and Sean were paid for this  job.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
may 2020<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
This is a story about rock  picking.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n


<\/div>\n
THERE is a very moving  film called  THE FIELD with Richar Harris  as  a hardscrabble  Irish  farmer whose field  is  all he  has<\/div>\n
in life.   And  he is prepared to die to keep his Field.  I can identify with him.  There are 25 acres on our farm where meh grandparents<\/div>\n
made a living somehow.  7  o 8 acres are swamp or a term used  more fashionably the water acres  are called a  pond.  Another 10 <\/div>\n
acres are bush some of  which  we planted 60 years ago.  Red  pines\u2026worthless for anything but pulp and hideaway locations for<\/div>\n
wild Turkeys.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
There are two acres of sandy loam at the front of the farm but one of our sons  decided  to plant oaks and maples there<\/div>\n
one week-end.   Our garden soil disappeared.  Now, 20 years later,  he is scooping out the trees to be replanted on fancy avenues.<\/div>\n
Maybe we will get the good land  back but I am not holding my breath.   I will likely have to rely on My Field behind the swamp.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
That leaves my  two acre field\u2026as seen below.   Our best crops are rocks.   Every year more rocks\u2026and more rocks.<\/div>\n
Backbreaking work with a stone boat and  pull tractor.  Even with the bobcat the rock picking is  back breaking.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Ten years ago i bought a  special hydraulic tractor for Marjorie for her  birthday.  She has  never driven  it but I try <\/div>\n
to harrow our rock field with it annually.  Take a  look.  These rocks  come up every single year.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
How did  our grandparents ever make a living.?  Simple answer is they did not make a living.  They existed\u2026house <\/div>\n
with no indoor plumbing,  no electricity,  dirt floor basement, lots of small creatures living between the single layer of  bricks<\/div>\n
and the split lath pleasured walls.  Hiding place for snakes and mice and bugs.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Why send this?  Just in case one of you readers longs for the  good old days and are thinking of  buying a small farm.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
may 2020<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Now the field  looks a little cleaner.  How did it get this way?   One  summer day Jack Skeoch <\/div>\n
and his  friend Sean were cycling by our house.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cHey,  boys, do you want to earn a  few bucks?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSure.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI will  pay minimum wage  or better\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDoing what?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a secret.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
And that was the way I got the rocks picked  before we got the rock picker implement attached<\/div>\n
to the Bob cat.  Better than sending the boys to some sweaty  gym.  Outdoors.  But no girls<\/div>\n
which was a bit of  a  problem.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n


<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The Big Snapper looked  like a rock.  She was burying her eggs…<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n


<\/div>\n

Now what to do with the stones.  My Cousin Eleanor and her husband  John built a large farm house with stones like these.<\/div>\n
That skill I do not have.   So we just dumped the stones  in the rock pile.  Every farm has  a place for stones.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Dec 2020<\/div>\n


<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Begin forwarded message: Subject: EPISODE 191       ROCKS ARE OUR BEST CROP EPISODE 187    ROCKS ARE OUR BEST CROP Jack and Sean were paid for this  job.   alan skeoch may 2020 This is a story about rock  picking. THERE is a very moving  film called  THE FIELD with Richar Harris  as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6840\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}