5. Middleton and Farming Adventures: Meeting Barbara and the Lives and Enterprises That Ensued

Grandpa and Grandma Cochrane (my folks) turned the 80 acre farm with the buildings over to us for no more than us assuming the loan against the property which was with a bank out of Spokane, Washington.  The house was a real gem. It had been designed by Brother Byron while he was still in Architecture School at the U of I (1948-49). Then the whole family did the building.  All of us had participated in the framing and plumbing. Brother Jim did the electrical that included a low voltage switching system, and I took on the job laying the rock wall that included the fireplace.  This wall made the east end of the living room and was made of granite picked up along the road to MCall as we traveled back and forth with the 1 ½ ton  GMC. The south wall of the 22 foot long living room, was floor to ceiling glass protected by a 4 foot overhang roof. The fireplace was a  real challenge, the ratio between the Fire box opening and the chimney cross section had to be within a close tolerance or smoke would fill the room.  It was the nicest living quarters we had had since Barbara and I were married. 

Both of my folks were teaching at the State School in Nampa.  I do not remember where they were living at the time or why they were willing to give up their lovely home unless it was to have their grandkids closer to home.    

We took up the job of farming and had decided that we would raise hogs from birth to 250 pounds or market size.  Barbara  and I pledged that we would give it a trial period of 10 years, to see if we could  make it work financially.  Of course I had a teaching job in Boise as a backup, so we were not dependent on the pigs alone, and we gave it our all.  We set up farrowing pens, feed bunkers, and weight scales for a way to check gain and designed our own feed mixture. The feed mixture used home grown grains and additives of meatmeal with the right level of protein for different stages of the pigs life.  Designed to get the right level of weight (250 lbs) in the shortest period of time (4.5 to 6 months).  

I was assigned to West Junior High School Boise, teaching only 7th and 8th grade math, which was quite a change in what I had been teaching in my last three schools. 

That level of math was a little boring, and I remember what a pleasure it was when spring work on the farm allowed me to get home after school, get on the tractor and plow several acres.  Being able to look back and see what I had accomplished was very satisfying. Farm work was always present but it took many forms, from mechanic work to keeping the books and making guesses about the future of the hog and crop markets.

Besides the pigs operations we had other animals to take care of. Brother Jim had six  sheep that we made room for.  One was a ram with a dark head and legs that would run up and down the drain ditch bank looking for a way to get out of the fence.  On many occasions Barbara would look out the window and find him lying on his back with the black feet sticking straight up in the air.  Thinking he might be dead,  she would run out to check, and the ram would jump up and run down the ditch bank.  That got “Old Hat” pretty fast. That was one of many stories that unfolded those first years. Like weeding the corn crop, overhauling the A John Deer, having a sow get electrocuted on the electric watering trough, and a Baling machine with a Wisconsin engine that was the bane of our lives.  It had so many dents in its cowling from me hitting it with the crank handle out of frustration when it vapor locked. All the joys of being a farmer!

Christmas time approached and Barbara wanted to invite her family to spend the holidays with us. This was the first time in our married lives that we were close enough and that we had the facilities to make it possible.  Barbara made a lot of the gifts and all the Christmas cards that were sent. Homemade cards became somewhat of a tradition after that.  I think that was the year that I gave the Franciscan Ware Starburst dining set that was used to serve the Christmas meal. This dining set is still in the cupboard today.  The 1959 Holiday was a great success and we were going to end it attending a New Year's Party in Boise.  We had arranged for a Babysitter, and got three miles down the road before we decided that icy conditions were too dangerous for us, and we creeped back home for an uneventful end to 1959.

Planning the crops to plant started early particularly for the south 40, as it was hilly enough that we had corrugates going in all directions which made gravity irrigation a pain. We got the grain planted and it came up but we lost about half of it because of the irrigation problems.  July of 1960 was a hot month and Barbara was pregnant and having a tough time with the heat. Air conditioning was a pure luxury at this time, which we did not have. About the middle of July, Barbara had had enough and she decided to try an early birth. After a laborious admission to the hospital it was decided that it was too early, so we went back home to wait it out. 

 By that time grain was ready to harvest, and I had made arrangements for a combine to be in the field on the 3rd of August. We were in the middle of harvest with truck loads of grain to be put in the granary, and Barbara began having birthing pains. I had trucks to unload and could not leave the harvest.  Barbara asked a neighbor lady to drive her to the hospital. Fortunately we had admission taken care of and Milton was born. Temperature was 105° that day and it was the hottest day of the year.  Barbara told of being in the maternity ward with a few other women, one of which was a young lady that had no baby clothes for her child, so the group of ladies donated clothes they had brought along for their own babies to the needy mother.   Barbara brought Milton home in just a diaper and we now had four children in the family. Fortunately the rest of the year went along normally, as normal as anything can be on a farm. 

Frank