The Good Ole' Days

A wonderful journey back to a time of haying and threshing and working together on a family farm in the mid-1900s. The reminiscences come alive as Hayman’s tongue-in-cheek wit provides a running commentary on his childhood in Goodhue County, Minnesota.

While history texts tell us the major newsworthy events of years gone by, Milt Hayman tells us the days and the seasons on the farm in early to mid-1900s. With crackling wit and vivid detail, we wander back in time with Milt to relive the “Good Ole Days”.

What child cannot recall being a Gofer? In Milt Hayman’s memories, being a gofer sounded like this:

”…Get a head of cabbage. Throw a piece of wood on the furnace. Close the hill gate. Close the covers on the stock tank. Close the lower gate. Pick some crabapples. Run get me some onions…be a good boy and run up and get the mail…”

In “Good Ole Days”, Hayman’s vivid recollections bring to life childhood days on a farm in the early 1900s. The stories evoke both the difficult work and the exuberant freedom experienced by farm children.

“Good Ole Days” reminds readers of farm life-the good, the bad and the funny-when a family’s welfare depended upon every member’s help. Through Hayman’s words, we are brought back to a time when most of spring, summer and fall were spent preparing for winter.

Milt’s childhood stories of life on the farm will conjure up memories of “The Good Ole Days” for any child who spent time in 20th Century rural America. Though the work was hard and never-ending, Hayman’s vivid recollections remind us that day-to-day life still held the joy of time spent with family and neighbors.

Though Milt recalls life on the Hayman farm, his experiences of chores and school and family life are universal to any farm kid.