Stages of the Buildings on the James & Edna Groves Fountain City, WI Farm 1948 - 1978...

James and Edna Groves, my parents, bought a farm that was five miles from Fountain City, WI in 1948.  They had been living and farming on my Great-Grandmother’s farm which was near Viroqua, WI.  The decision about whether to buy that farm or move to another area of WI in order to leave behind the tobacco raising area of WI was not made in haste I’m quite sure.  Both of my parents had lived in the Viroqua area most of their lives and had many relatives and friends in that area.  But WWII had ended and soldiers were returning to their homes in the states.  Many of those soldiers had become addicted to nicotine because of the free cigarettes which had been supplied to them in the military.  My parents did not raise or use tobacco because they felt it was not something Christians should do.  But the land around Viroqua seemed to be good for raising tobacco and tobacco was in high demand.  Therefore that land was higher priced than other WI farm land outside the Viroqua and Westby area.  My parents found a farm seventy-five miles from Viroqua and decided to buy it.  The farm was at the top of a hill above the Mississippi River.  It was 200 acres - 120 acres of tillable land and the rest was pasture for the dairy herd our family had or it was wooded areas.  I was nearly four years old when we moved there.  I had an older brother and two younger sisters.  We would have another sister born after we moved to the farm near Fountain City, WI.

 The story I am writing today is one in which I share photos primarily of the barn and outer buildings as they were in November 1948 when we moved to the farm and additional photos that document the changes and additions that were made to the barn and barnyard during the years we lived there.  

This is the oldest picture of the barn that I have.  This is probably what my parents saw when they first saw this farm and when they moved there in November 1948.  A chicken coop is partially shown on the left with the granary partially shown on the right.  A hog shelter is shown to the right of the barn. 

Fountain City, WI Farm Pets...

Since I grew up on a dairy farm, there were animals around all the time.  Some of those animals provided the reason for our income as was true of the milk cows.  Milk cows gave birth to a cute calf every year but I didn't consider cows or calves pets.  We also had hogs that provided some of the farm income.  Sows had litters of pigs several times a year but I didn't consider sows or their progeny pets. We had chickens most of the time and they provided part of our food chain so I didn't consider them pets either.  

We did have a dog most of the time but our parents had some rules for a dog that was allowed to live on our farm with us.  Those rules were that the dog had to be good with cattle and had to always live outdoors.  The first dog I remember our family had was a collie named Pal.  We must have had that dog from the time of my birth as I remember that it was around as I started school at age six.  I remember liking Pal but I don't remember how long he lived.  He was good with cattle and went along with me when I walked into our pasture to get the cows headed to the barnyard for their evening milking.  Pal was good at nipping cow back legs and making sure they headed in the direction of the barn.  We had other dogs but I was not a lover of dogs like my three sisters were so I didn't spend much time pampering the dogs.  

We also had cats on our farm.  Basically, the same rules that applied to dogs also applied to the cats.  So the purpose of the cats was to keep the mice and rat population down and be able to live outdoors as they weren't allowed in the house either.

Food was not purchased for our dogs or cats.  The dogs were fed table scraps and the cats supplied their own food from their hunting expeditions in the barn.  Cats were given milk to drink during the time of milking both morning and evening.  Dogs probably drank water from the same water sources that the cows had which was an outdoor stock tank in good weather and drinking cups at their stanchions during the winter months.  Rain provided much of the water needs of outdoor animals.  

My mother loved singing canaries so she usually had a canary in a cage in our home while I was growing up.  I listened to the singing canaries but didn't get attached to them.

But there was an animal on our farm which I really loved and that was Patches, a riding horse.  Patches was probably bought primarily for my brother, Jim, who was nearly three years older than I am.  Jim had a period of time in childhood when he wanted to be a cowboy.  He got a lariat and roped fence posts and his three sisters. He and a friend, JoDell Jerrod, even started to build a cabin so he could live outdoors like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. So one day, a horse was bought and a corral was built where the horse would live.  Jim may have been about eleven years old when Patches joined our family.