Journal Topic: Describe your yard as a child - did you help with the yard work? What are your memories?

There are two backyards that I remember from my childhood—one in Brooklyn Park (until I was 9) and one in Alexandria (from age 9-17).

The one in Brooklyn Park was on a farm. It was very expansive. The yard butted right up against the fields—corn, soybean, strawberry. There were lots of trees. I don’t ever remember helping with yard work here. Perhaps I was too little...? My cousins lived just down the street; they were our closest neighbors. In fact, we had a little dirt road, running through the cornfield, which connected our two houses. Anyway, my favorite memory of this backyard was when we would play baseball. We never had enough people to play, so when we would get a hit and run to a base, which were the trees, we would have to leave an imaginary runner on, say 2nd base (if that’s how far we’d gotten), and go back and hit again. Sometimes, it would just be my cousin and I playing; sometimes my brothers and another cousin would join us.

The backyard in Alexandria was also quite expansive and also on a farm. This farm only had cows—no crops. While there were other neighbors around, this backyard did have a small trail, from constant walking, connecting our house to grandma’s house. The yard wasn’t exactly flat, and yard work was definitely a chore. I do remember having family yard work days when the whole family would spend the day outside, picking up sticks, mowing, gardening, etc. I think that I generally saw yard work as boy’s work, so I tended to try to stay inside—not that I was necessarily doing housework while inside!