Chester Chatter: Getting cozy with farm life

By Ruthie Douglas
©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Coming to Chester and moving into the big farm house, I faced a brand new way of life. Especially when my new husband Don said, “Come out to the barn and see the cows.” I had lived my entire life in Vermont, but until that day I had never stepped into a barn.

Cows just scared the you-know-what out of me. So, refusing to step into the barn, I just eyed them from the doorway.

As time went by, I felt more comfortable and started working in the barn with the calves. Before you know it, I had fallen in love with them. Don said that I did a good job until the day I told him how much I would charge him for my labor! He fired me on the spot!

After a couple of days, though, he asked me to come back to work in the barn. I didn’t know how to milk the cows, how to drive a tractor or how to get the hay in. One day, I created a mess in the hayfields. Since I am left-handed, I raked up the hayfield, leaving the rows on the left. But the hay baler was picking those rows up on the right!

Despite my troubles, this I know for all the hard work at day’s end: It was rewarding to see what I had accomplished. A farmer’s wife needs to be a farmhand as well as a housekeeper and cook.

Scene and heard

Chester High School Class of 1961 met at the Fullerton Inn recently for its monthly get-together.

Melvin and Betty Stowell are back home after spending the winter in Florida.

Chester folks are some happy to have Keith Hill chosen as principal of Green Mountain High. Keith is well-liked.

Say what you did on Earth Day, even if it was just an outdoor walk to smell the scents of spring.

The first week in May marks Teacher Appreciation Week and boy has this school year been a doozie. Show some love to those stalwart teachers!

May 13 is National Tulip Day and no garden would be complete without these colorful blooms.

Did you know that May is named for the Roman goddess Maia, who oversaw the growth of plants?