This Old Farm: A Treasury of Family Farm Memories

By Leslie C. Mcdaniel
Published on July 1, 1999
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Original artwork from period advertising materials is used throughout
Original artwork from period advertising materials is used throughout "This Old Farm." Classic photographs also tell the story of America's love affair with the farm.
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Vintage ads help tell the story of the family farm in This Old Farm.
Vintage ads help tell the story of the family farm in This Old Farm.

A recent conversation with a farm wife went something like this:“It rained so much, we got a late start planting. So they’ve been out in the fields until after dark every night. When they come in, they’ve got to fix whatever broke during the day. And then they’re up at 4 or 5 in the morning to get a head start on the day. It makes for long days,” she said. “But we’re still here, so we must like it.”

If such sentiments make sense to you, you’ll feel right at home with This Old Farm: A Treasury of Family Farm Memories. A fitting companion piece to This Old Tractor: A Treasury of Vintage Tractors and Family Farm Memories released last year, the book celebrates what’s good about farm life, and, in a good-natured way, cusses the rest.

Edited by Michael Dregni, This Old Farm is a sort of fancied-up family photo album packed with photographs, old advertisements depicting early farm scenes, essays, poetry and artwork. All that’s missing is a dusty pink ribbon wrapped around the memories. But Dregni’s efforts are solid, and the package holds together neatly, each piece complementing the next.

The book opens with a foreword by Roger Welsch, the well-known writer and humorist. You can almost see him squirm as he writes of the deep love he feels for his farm, even if others find it less than impressive. (“About all that can be said for the place of yours,” one neighbor notes, “is that if it wasn’t there, there would be a hell of a hole down there by the river.”)

But he’s careful to note that, on the farm, all is not sweetness and light.

“This attachment we all seem to have for farming leaves us curiously dissatisfied,” Welsch notes. “It’s not as if we are all on one side of the fence or the other, that we hate the farm or love it. We all treasure the good, tremble before the bad, laugh and cry, avoid and miss the feel of the farm.”

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