Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Easter On The Farm

Yesterday I described some of the routine of Easter as I was growing up. Something else is drilled into my memory...the smells.

The title of this blog refers back to growing up on the farm. We weren't "farmers" in the formal sense of the word. My dad had a regular job in town. My parents, though, knew they had to stretch their income to feed and care for themselves, four kids, grandparents that needed help. And others who crossed our paths.

It was my mom who knew how to work that farm. The little acre and a half was about an acre of orchard at the beginning. Apples of different varieties, various types of peaches, at least two kinds of plums, a few pears, occasional apricots (if the spring freeze didn't kill them) and crabapples. Oh, my!

The year they bought the land, mom helped pick and sell the fruit. The bounty was such that they paid for the land in one summer of fruit sales.

Now, let your imagination run with me for a minute. Easter is always near the first day of Spring, right? In our location, that meant that Easter often included a wide array of fruit trees in full bloom.

Inhale. Remember. Listen to the bees buzzing in the warm afternoon air.

That's what Easter smelled like to me.

What did your Easter (or Passover) smell like?

6 comments:

C. Beth said...

It smelled like chocolate. Mmm!

C. Beth said...

Oh, and marshmallows--specifically the little chocolate marshmallow eggs that come in egg cartons--definite smell to those and I loved them.

beckiwithani said...

Boiled eggs, definitely those chocolate marshmallows that Beth wrote about, Peeps, jelly beans, and the sweet smell of money in the "Special Egg" that was always hidden in the hardest place!

Isabella said...

Honey baked ham and the vinegar smell of the egg coloring dye.

C. Beth said...

Funny--when Becki talked about the "sweet smell of money" I actually thought about the smell of money that has been around awhile--a crumpled dollar bill that has that distinct smell of somewhat dirty fibers. And there's a picture in my mind of that dollar bill in our big prize egg.

Good memories!

Unknown said...

I'll take the smell of Isabella's ham over the "sweet smell of money." Great responses, you guys. Makes me want chocolate and I rarely eat it.