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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 March 23, 2015 - - No. 133 |
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Years ago Herb and Mary lived on and farmed the land immediately to the west of here. Their place has changed hands a couple of times since Herb retired from farming and he and his wife moved to town. The house and barns stand vacant. A driveway filled with snow invites no one in; the long gone routine of Herb and Mary's daily life is almost forgotten.
In the late evenings deer take shelter in the yard among the overgrown ornamentals that the couple planted and cared for over their years of farming. A small door on the barn opens and closes on creaking hinges as the winds of late winter move across the barnyard; reminiscent of Herb's comings and goings at milking time. The stanchions in the milking area are empty; twisted, broken, fallen and vacant of Herb's Holsteins that once stood eating at milking time. Before sunup and late in the evenings, his gentle hands cared for them and the milk that they produced twice each day. Behind curtain-less, frost etched windows, the cold interior of the farmhouse holds an emptiness now foreign to Mary's character, warmth and presence.
During one of those last years that the couple spent on the farm; Herb, with his pocket knife, out in "Herb and Mary's Woods", told it all. A large beech tree holds the carved names, Mary + Herb 1970. As would be appropriate for that old man, Mary's name came first. |
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Herb Anderson at milking time in the 1970's |