When I was growing up in Schroeder there wasn’t a whole lot to do during the summer months and there was no way Mom was going to let us loaf on the couch all day watching TV. Before I became a big fan of reading, I spent lots of time outside playing in the woods that surrounded our house. These woods were the best place to play because they were full of treasures. Literally. Our house was built on a property that, at one time, had been a dump. Unlike most dumps today there wasn’t a whole lot of plastic and icky stuff. By the time I was playing back there it was mostly cool glass bottles and old metal pans. Sometimes you’d find a nail or two but for the most part there was nothing dangerous. I liked to line up the old bottles I found in the sun. There were all shapes, sizes and colors. The bottles with blue and green glass were my favorite. The clear bottles were really good for lightning bugs.
We also found ways to make money from playing in the woods. My brother and I had a small night crawler business. To catch night crawlers we’d dig up the ground a little bit then put down an old blanket or sleeping bag. Once the blanket was doused with water it would soak into the ground telling the night crawlers it was dark and raining. All you had to do was wait, then pull back the cover and pick up the night crawlers really quick, because boy are they fast!
You could go back day after day and always find a few. Thenwe’d put the crawlers a dozen at a time (14 if they were small) in old soup cans with dirt and sell them to fishermen on their way up the Cramer Road.
There were times this night crawler business turned ugly. My brother liked to chase me with them and toss them in my long hair. They would stick right in the tangles and dangle there while I screamed my head off. The worst was when they broke in half when I was trying to pull them out. Needless to say I’m not in the worm business with my brother anymore!
One summer he and his friend Karl decided to build a tree house. Their big plans included a two-story with a lookout, windows and everything. I was standing on their “ladder” (boards nailed to the tree) as they were giving me the full tour when the nails gave way and I hit the ground fast. I still have a scar on my left side where the nail caught me on the way down. I wasn’t too keen on their tree house after that. I figured if their ladder gave way I sure wasn’t going to trust the floor!
I stuck to making forts on the ground where I could nail boards in a tent fashion between two trees and play inside. Safer and less chance of a tetanus shot.
Inside I’d carpet the floor with sheets of ground moss and leaves. It felt real homey. Sometimes mom would let me make instant pudding and bring it to my fort for a treat. I could make this all by myself without making too much of a mess in the kitchen. I liked it lumpy with the powder chunks still in it, because it tasted more like batter. Inspired by the beautiful spring we’re having I might encourage you to nail up a few boards and curl up with a bowl of lumpy pudding. It’s a sure fire cure for those long winterblues!
Look deep into nature, and
then you will understand
everything better.
Albert Einstein
Tastes Like Home columnist Sandy (Anderson) Holthaus lives on an alpaca farm in South Haven,
MN with her husband, Michael, and their children Zoe, Jack and Ben. Her heart remains on the
North Shore where she grew up with her parents, Art and LaVonne Anderson of Schroeder.
She enjoys writing about her childhood and mixes memories with delicious helpings of
home-style recipes.
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