Summers of '68, '69, '70

This is the former Paul Nelson in Barnet Center on the side of one of the hills that forms a portion of the Stevens river valley. A classic Vermont hillside dairy farm of the 60's when Vermont had at least 2 cows for every person. This picture came from a 1975 calender and was likely taken in the early 60's or perhaps even in the late 50's. The picture shows a new milk house that has yet to be painted barn red. There's also a lumber pile behind the barn that was likely used to build a small house for Paul's wife's folks. They had passed by the time I worked there. One of those summers we burnt it down. The main barn was built in the '40's.

Paul Nelson was an educated engineer who graduated from Worcester Polytech but returned to his native land to farm. I worked there during three summers while I was in high school. Up at 5am for the morning milking and supper at 6pm after the pm milking and full day in between. There were around 100 milking Jersey cows with dozens of heifers and a young bull. The only other animals were the barn cats, 2 oversized house cats and a cow dog. No pigs, horses, ducks, chickens.... commonly found on other dairy farms in the area.

The motor pool consisted of a John Deere 70, 520 and 2020 and JD dozer. There was also a 1 ton farm truck with a floor mounted stick shift. A sweet drive to a teenager who had been driving farm trucks since he could barely reach the pedals but didn't get his license until he was a senior in high school - I have no idea why.

Paul had a full time farm hand, Arnold. He had been there many years and lived in a spare bedroom in the main house. He had a speech impediment and was difficult to understand until you had worked with him for awhile. I was able to decifer him after a short time and we got along well together. Arnold always had a pipe in his mouth. He was great help but would not have done very well off the farm. In fact, he had an old car which I don't believe had been used in years. I never recall him leaving the farm.

Paul's wife, Elinor, was originally from Worcester and didn't drive. She tended the house and prepared the meals. She and Paul made a weekly shopping trip to town. I don't think she felt very at home on the farm. Their 2 sons and daughter and respective families would occasionally visit but otherwise it seemed like a very quiet existence for her. She passed away in 1977 a few years after my last summer there. I believe from cancer. Paul lived almost another 30 years.

During the Christmas break of my freshman year in college I worked at the farm. It was the week in winter hell. A day or so into the break a major ice storm hit the area and took out the power. The milking machines needed power to work and hence the problem. Three of us spent at least 3 full milkings doing it the old fashioned way - by hand. Only a hardcore dairy farmer would appreciate the scale of this. And all the cows were Jerseys. Many Jerseys have small sized teats meaning you have to use the 2 finger method versus the full hand method. After a 5 or 6 cows hand cramps set in. And the cows are not used to hand milking and are reluctant to let their milk down. We milked pretty much around the clock for 36 hours. Of course, mastitis set in - utter infection. The power finally returned and after a few days things were back to normal. Paul drove to the local John Deere dealership a couple of days later and had a backup generator installed. That was the last time I worked on the farm - not because of the the ice storm but a new job was in the waiting that next summer.

After Paul's wife died he sold the farm to his son. The son built another house on the property and sold at least one lot at the "scenic overview" from where the above scenic picture was taken from. A house sits there now. Since then the farm has changed hands again at least once. A large manure capture pit sits in front of the main barn. The scenic view so well captured in the calender picture hasn't been available for many years and will never be again.

Austin and Paul vacationed in California in 1978 and stayed with us for a week in Simi Valley. We let them use our car to explore the area. Paul lived into his late '90's and passed away just a couple of years ago after spending a few years in a nursing home.

My three summers there were a bit sterile and very monastic. Every 3 weeks I'd get Sunday off to go home for the day. The work was hard, long and routine. Basically work all day, 3 squares and sleep. Pretty boring for a teenager. It certainly didn't help my social agilities or enhance my then myopic world and social view. Paul subscribed to Time magazine and I spent the noon breaks devouring them cover to cover. The work did make and keep me physically fit and my high school wrestling prowess was greatly helped. My first summer's pay was $30 per week and progressed to $60 per week my last summer - about 75 cents an hour. I did get lots of tractor time. Those were the first paychecks that paid into social security.

I admired Paul's approach to farming. It was very business like with incremental expansion. However, I always felt he would have enjoyed being an engineer more and would have been very good at it. Elinor would definitely found that more to her liking.