From an Almond to an Apricot

My father would from time to time sell a few cattle or a horse or two at the local sale yard, usually to pay for our school fees.  My middle sister once went with him to a cattle sale and simply by removing her sunglasses, managed to buy a cow and a calf.  In all the seventeen years I lived on the farm, I can only remember having two good years where we had bumper crops, so to speak.  The rest of the time, it was a bit touch and go.  My parents were always looking for new ways of making extra money. 

My mother and my aunt next door use to raise turkeys in anticipation of the Christmas season.  One year a request for live turkeys appeared in the Farmers Weekly.  A railway truck was duly booked and the two groups of turkeys were chased from different directions to the nearest railway station.  It was pretty hard going for the turkeys, as there was a gale blowing and they were being driven straight into it.  By the time they reached their destination, they were extremely exhausted, however once they were herded into the railway truck a new surge of energy seemed to revitalilize them as the one group spied the other, and an almighty fight broke out.  Unfortunetely, by the time they reached the purchaser, half of them were dead.

On another occasion my father planted sugar beans.  These did exceptionally well and after being placed in bags and taken to the railway station to be sent away, we merrily jumped into our car and went on holiday, confidently feeling that the beans would take care of the finances.  Sadly though, the beans never made it off the station platform, and to add insult to injury my father was presented with a bill for demurrage.

The best story of all was when Thrupps put an advert in the paper looking for almonds.  This was like a gift from heaven, as there were loads of almond trees in the grove to the left of the old house.  They were of a slightly different variety from the usual ones, being more round in shape.  We could however attest to their excellent flavour, as we use to crack them open and eat them all the time.

Totting up the extra money that would be available for Christmas shopping, their hopes and dreams were dashed once more when they received a curt note from Thrupps saying that they weren't looking for apricot pips,  Farm life was never dull!