Last week I got a massive delivery from Home Depot. A concrete mixer, gravel, two pallets of concrete, and a pile of other odds and ends needed to lay a concrete slab for a tool shed. All of my large tools and tractor attachments have been sitting exposed to both the elements and thieving eyes since we moved here in October, so having a shed will be a major upgrade for the homestead.
Before getting to work, my son and I went to Walmart for a two cubic foot bag of soil and a giant pot so we could get the chocolate mint potted. If we put it directly in the garden beds it would have surely taken over. We saved room in the garden beds for catnip, horehound, dill, and a Sugar Baby watermelon for my son. He has been wanting to try one for two seasons now but we have never been successful with growing one.
By the time I had potted the chocolate mint, Dad pulled up in his old Dodge Dakota. He immediately started squaring off the two by four frame for the shed while I hopped on my tractor and planted two rows of yellow sweet onions, one row of red onions, and four rows of our own unique heirloom variety of corn. It is a mix of Tewa Blue and Mandan corn, which the Lakota used to trade for. One buffalo hide for a braid of ten ears of corn. Not a great deal by today's standards.
My tractor is a Cub Cadet. The same brand my great grandpa and grandpa were photographed using to manage their farm in Allegheny Township, Pennsylvania. Now my son is driving that same brand of tractor to do the same chores around our farm and homestead. It is a special feeling getting to continue a subsistence farming tradition that our family has been involved with since before our earliest family records.
Not only are we keeping traditions alive from our Pennsylvania Dutch side of the family, but our Tewa ancestors have been farming this land with the ancestors of these very blue corn seeds since the migration to the Rio Grande villages centuries before the Spanish set foot here. We get to continue working this land just as our family has done for generations before us.
In the coming seasons we will mix in some Aztec Black corn and maybe a Lenape variety to have a proper mix that represents our family. We are not Lenape, but the Pennsylvania Dutch settlers would have had access to their corn during the early days of establishing their farms and homesteads.
Just as I finished covering the newly sowed rows of corn, Mom stopped by with a box of ingredients she was planning on cooking for dinner. She and my son immediately got to work in the kitchen while Dad and I continued with the foundation. We raked the dirt inside the frame flat, laid gravel, tamped the whole area down, and watered it. That was it for the day. We were both exhausted.
After cleaning up the tools and throwing out the trash, we went inside to find seasoned fries and hot dogs with bowls full of chili, cheese, and diced onions for chili dogs. She had also blended up fresh watermelon and strawberries with ice and poured it into a massive glass mason jar with fresh mint leaves. It was the perfect treat to quench our thirst after a long day of hard labor.
We ended the day eating dinner together while talking about how we plan on celebrating my son's 12th birthday coming up next week on the 19th of May. Halfway through the conversation I got an alert on my doorbell app saying a package was delivered. It was my son's toy repeater rifle. He has been playing a lot of Red Dead Redemption 2 so he wanted a prop for his make believe shootouts at the dirt hill in our backyard. He was so excited. We were excited for him, but mine was mixed with the sadness that comes with understanding he may not be interested in toys and pretend for many more years. The changes that come with aging are not good or bad, but they are different. It is a reminder to appreciate every stage of life from childhood to your final years. Every chapter is worth living and loving every minute of it.
It was the first time since I moved into the house in October 2025 that my mom and dad came out to visit and share a meal. It feels like a home when family is around. It took until I was 37 years old to get the family living close together again. Now moments like this can become more frequent. As my parents age I am making sure I appreciate every moment we get together. Spending time like this with family and friends really does make life beautiful.
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