Get That Rabbit
Every summer after I was 7 years old, my parents would drop me and my sister Nancy off at grandmother’s isolated farm in central Michigan where my father was raised together with 9 siblings.
This arrangement gave them a break from raising children and gave Nancy and I a chance to blend in with nature. We would help a little with chores and farming, but mostly it seemed like a wonderful summer vacation. Occasionally Christmas vacations were spent on the farm too, giving us a chance to see nature all bundled up during Michigan’s cold snowy winters.
Life on the farm back then (1950’s) didn’t have all the modern conveniences that we have today.
Butter needed to be churned, margarine kneaded to install required yellow food coloring, clothes washed in an old fashion wash machine and then scrubbed using a scrub board. We had radio, not tv for entertainment although there was a windup phonograph to would play music. Farm tractors were old with metal wheels-not tires and were started by turning a fly wheel, not a key. I often needed help turning the fly wheel if it was my turn to help plow. Recent plumbing gave us the luxury of indoor toilet, but the 3-hole outhouse was still in the yard if needed.
Sometimes one of my uncles would let me help them with checking their trapline and even help carry home the beaver, otter, mink and muskrat that were captured. I even was taught how to skin, and stretch the hides to prepare them for sale. Income generated from selling fur helped make ends meet if grain pieces were down. Grandma had me help her gather mushrooms and would patiently sort out what I brought her to separate the edible from the bad ones.
My favorite duty was providing fish for the dinner table when grandma announced they were needed.
I had two streams and a river to choose from. I became adept at gathering frogs and grasshoppers to help me perform my mission. Often, I would come back with poison ivy rash while tracking through the woods or get blisters from sunburn if I chose not to put on sunscreen, but these inconveniences didn’t dampen my enthusiasm for being outdoors.
My second favorite assignment was keeping the rabbits out of grandma’s garden. She kept a large vegetable garden providing variety to fish, rabbits and other game that were to be cooked for dinner. She would be furious if she saw rabbits eating her veggies and would point them out to me while shouting Get That Rabbit. During the winter I could follow their tracks to under the chicken coup or wood piles and developed methods to chase them out to where I could shoot them. Only once did I confuse the dark shape of a skunk to that of a rabbit, once was all that was needed to make me make sure of my quarry next time. By the time I got to high school, paper route duties didn’t allow me enough time off to stay for long periods at the farm. Having had the farm as my childhood playground continues to bring back many fond memories of me growing up surrounded by nature however. Even now, many years later, if I see a rabbit running across the yard it makes me smile as I recall grandma’s instructions -Get that Rabbit.
