Two Pears and Some Family History

Dear Diary,

Several years ago I found this old glass milk bottle at an antique store.  I was delighted because it is from the farm of my father's cousin.  My grandfather and his three brothers immigrated to the US in the 1890's and settled in southern New Hampshire.  One brother started a dairy farm and his daughter married a dairy farmer as well.  Hayward Farms was quite a local legend in the 40's and 50's.  I remember stopping at one of the ice cream stands when I was young.

Sadly, the Hayward farm is no more but the Sullivan Farm in Nashua, NH is still going, not as a dairy farm but as a apple orchard and commercial flower grower, run my the granddaughter. It just celebrated its 100th year recently and has hosted family reunions.  I have such wonderful memories of that farm, when we would go up at haying time.  I didn't do much haying, just rode the hay bales up the conveyor belt to the barn loft and swam in the cow pond.  We kids even tried to ride a cow once by putting pillows on her back but we didn't get too far, Bessie was having none of it!

Extra is an old photograph of said cow pond....spring fed and COLD!