Walking in the Furrow
Thirty-five plus years ago, my brother and I found creative ways to beat the summer heat and humidity when we were done with our morning and evening farm chores. Orneriness wasn't unheard of from either of us, but we knew we best not take the opportunity to spray Dad with the water nozzle in the milk house or toss a bucket of water in his direction, for if we did, then we best be running for Mom to save us.
My brother and I enjoyed tossing buckets full of water, water balloons and even squirt guns at one another. Before the days of owning a pool, we laid claim to a new 300-gallon oval stock tank that Dad had purchased from Wilson's Grain & Coal in Lakeville. If Mom wasn't looking, we would sneak the oscillating sprinkler from the garden and place it under the maple trees in the front yard and run back-and-forth through the sprinkler to cool off, too.
Some of the best times took place in waters that were only a couple feet deep in the hay fields or spaced between 38-inch rows of corn after receiving an abundance of rainfall in a short time frame. The warm summer rain and swimming in nearby creeks were just one of the many ways we had fun and stayed cool.
Do you remember the summertime rewards for good behavior as a child, with the frozen treats or the cookies that were stashed away in the chest freezer at your parents or grandparents? I remember my aunts and grandparents always having the assorted flavors of freezer pops tucked away in the freezer door in the upright refrigerator/freezer. The frozen, sugary mixture in the clear plastic tube was always difficult to open without nipping off the end of the tube with a pair of scissors. I remember our freezer being well stocked with frozen treats, too; sometimes it was fruit punch Kool-Aid, grape juice or orange juice that was poured into the Tupperware popsicle maker molds and placed in the freezer.
Popsicles were bound to melt faster than any child could ever eat them, which eventually left a trail of sticky, sugar juices running down our chins and elbows before we had them polished off.
You are never too old to revisit those childhood treats and enjoy the frozen fruit bars or yogurt, shaved ice with some sugar-colored flavorings, orange push-ups or homemade concoction made of whole milk and fresh fruit combined in the blender for a healthy snack. As a farm kid I have always loved a glass or two of cold milk with every meal. Sometimes I can sit down and devour half of a gallon of 2 percent milk just for dinner. One of my favorite treats for breakfast or throughout the day is a few 16-ounce bottles of strawberry and cream whole milk from the Amish Country Dairy in Shipshewana. The plastic bottles allow for the milk to be frozen and thawed out gradually by the sun for a long-lasting, refreshing frozen treat while working outdoors this summer.