Moving

My husband and I have purchased a new home and are getting ready to move again. This move caused me to remember the first move of my life.
When I was five my parents bought another farm. We moved about two miles from where I was born. The new farm house was a one story home upon a hill. I thought you could see  forever. It was fun to look down in the valley at the land, the other farms and a few houses.
At this time there were only five children left at home as my two oldest sisters were married and my oldest brother was in the Army and the second brother had joined the Navy. My dad was self employed as a "Huckester". (He traveled the country roads buying produce, animals, cream, and butter, which he took to town and sold.) We still farmed, growing tobacco, hay, and corn. Mom still raised a great garden which she canned the excess vegetables. We had a huge apple orchard so there was plenty of fruit in the summer and the excess was put aside for the winter. Apples could be stored in a barrel of hay for winter days.
We had honey bees. When it was time for the bees to swarm and the other family members were working in the fields my sister and I had to watch the bees. If they started to swarm, we were to beat on a big galvanized tub with a spoon so they could hear and come catch the bees before they flew away. The new bees were put into a new hive which meant more honey.
In the summer the cows were kept outside in the pasture and we walked about a fourth of a mile to the milk gap. It was fun to tag along with mom as she carried her milk pails. After milking and straining the milk it was put in a huge limestone hole to keep cold until needed the next morning. It was a lot of work to walk to the cold storage to get the milk but it worked.
I started to school that fall when I was five. There was no kindergarten so I was in first grade. The walk was about a mile or more. I was accompanied by my sister and two brothers. The school was a two room school house. Grades one through four were in one room with their teacher while grades five through eight were in the second room with another teacher. We all had lunch and recess at the same time. So we interacted with each other. We played ball, tag, house, or other games. My favorite was "Red Rover".
I loved school but didn't like the walk home. It was a joy when we could get a ride with a neighbor or family member.
My mom got her first washing machine with a gasoline motor at this farm. She kept it on the back porch. On wash day, the water was brought out of the well and heated over an open fire then put into the washer. The motor was started and it began washing. This was a great help to mom. She had a rinse tub with a ringer to get the water out of the clothes. The clothes were then hung on the line.
There were advantages to this farm but I missed the old house.