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By: Jim Fitzpatrick |
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Email: jim@nunica.com |
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Local Farmer in Polkton Township writes for the Coopersville Observer. |
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Along Brandy Creek By Jim Fitzpatrick
The Coopersville Observer June 20, 2011- - No. 112 |
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Small glints of reflected light on the soil’s surface catch the eye of the farmer as the rising sum lifts early morning shadows form the freshly tilled earth. His farm equipment has passed many times over this slight rise in the field along State Road where the original log farm dwelling once stood. As usual he cannot resist shutting down the groaning diesel engine for just a few minutes at least. Small newly exposed remnants of his family’s past show themselves in the dark moist soil underfoot. Chunks of thick brown pottery, pieces of shattered window glass, reddish-orange fragments of chimney brick, ancient cows’ bones, and portions of charcoaled wood from long ago winters’ fires are among the scattered debris. He picked up a small ceramic figurine of a lamb and a .35 caliber lead rifle ball last spring. A small white button and a large dark blue button a couple of spring times before. Broken parts of plates and bowels with blue flower designs too. Grandpa Will said the log cabin like structure was still there when he was a boy and the hand pump at the well too. The farmer can still recall the Wild Black Cherry tree that was the last obvious reminder of the location going back five generations ago.
With both hands full, he walks toward the base of the power pole by the road and adds the collection to the growing pile of fragments accumulated there in the weeds. The neighbors likely question why he wonders around his tractor all hunched over staring down at the earth, every so often deliberately reaching down and plucking something from the soil. |
