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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 24, 2014 - - No. 126 |
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No one could bake a finer tasting loaf of homemade bread than Millie. The one exception, according to Millie at least, was her own mom; who would turn out six or seven loaves every few days as Millie and her eight brothers and sisters were growing up on the farm near Tawas, Michigan.
The children all helped with caring for the animals and milking the cows; both before and after walking to and from the nearby one room school each day. As they milked there in the barn, they sang songs together. It made the work much more pleasant she said to her listener. The eighth grade was the last year of school for Millie.
A few years passed and Millie had the chance to work and live on the farm of the Timmerman family between Nunica and Coopersville, along old US 16, now known as Cleveland. In time she married into the family. Harold became her husband and they purchased a farm nearby and raised a large family of their own.
For the rest of her life Millie’s kitchen was an ongoing scene of endless cooking and baking in caring for her family. And often a neighbor kid or two was squeezed in at the crowded table. Much of the food that came out of that kitchen was the product of the large garden that she and Harold cared for each summer. Flowers accented the garden edge and the borders of their yard. Wheat from the farm was ground into flour for Millie’s bread making.
A few years ago Millie asked Harold to photograph her in her kitchen making bread. Next to the photo in their family album Millie’s hand written words express her thoughts on life in reference to her bread making. We all miss her very much since her passing and of course, those wonderful loaves of bread.
“Pleasure in the smell of freshly-baked bread. Happiness is eating bread with a loved one. Joy is the abiding gratitude for our bread and the daily assurance of it.”
Above is Millie Timmerman’s hand written words in reference to life and bread making. R.I.P. Millie, from someone who knew her and her fine baking. |
