I remember with such fond memories when my sister and I were little kids and we spent the summers on a farm during summer vacations in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia … windows wide open, curtains blowing in the breeze, screen doors banging, flypaper hanging over the dining room table, and the utensils upright in a pewter pitcher on the table - handy so you could take what you needed for the meal. There was no air-conditioning in those days, only roll-up blinds pulled down in the parlor to keep it cool in case company came to visit.

 

 

We all slept on feather beds - kids, parents and grand-parents. There was electricity – a bulb in the ceiling of each room; oil lamps if you wanted to read. There was no indoor plumbing so you can guess what was under the bed. If nature called in a "big" way, that kid had to empty the jar in the morning. As kids, the "outdoor plumbing" was a novelty. A bench with two holes (known as a "two holer") and a sears catalog draped over a wooden bar. Is this too much detail? ^.^


We (and the other kids) ran barefoot on the cool green grass and sought relief in it from the rocks and stones we walked on.  After the bottoms of our feet toughened up, there was practically nothing that could stop us. Yes, there were occasional cuts and nail punctures sometimes requiring a trip to see the town doctor; however, I don't remember him ever having to come to the house to give us treatment of any kind. There were many home remedies.

We had our Saturday evening bath in the huge tin laundry tub and rinsed our hair with the help of a pitcher similar to what Robert Redford did for Meryl Streep in the movie Out of Africa (only we were way too young for any romantic ideas, but the water still felt good pouring through our hair).
 

We caught run-off rainwater from the roof in a barrel and the cistern. [Did I just read that collecting rainwater is against the law somewhere in the U.S.?] There was a hand pump outside with a dipper in a bucket (just like you see in old Westerns). It was there for the taking if you needed a drink of water. We all drank from the same dipper and poured any remainding water in the dipper over our heads to cool off.