In essence, Charlie was applying all the 4-H principles that he had been learning at the age of fifteen – only now he was free and doing it all on his own farm, sharing the experience with the love of his life.
Of course, as the years flew by they witnessed their share of tragedy and loss. Muriel’s brother was lost in action in Vietnam, and because their father was still in prison he wasn’t allowed to attend the memorial service. Cecil was eventually to die in prison, having never been paroled. Betty, Muriel’s mother, died in her seventies, as did Maureen, Molly’s beloved sister. Tommy died during the eighties of a disease which reduced him to skin and bone and from which he appeared to have just wasted away, and then at the age of 79, Molly and Charlie lost their dear friend - and Molly’s former husband - George. Jesse suffered a stroke and was incapacitated so that he needed a great deal of Molly’s attention.
Their friends began to disappear around them, but they always had each other and, of course, their loving children who adored them throughout, even calling Molly ‘Aunt Molly’ as encouraged by Muriel, and then eventually their children’s children, and the offspring of their friends and neighbors who they gathered around them like crops growing toward sunlight. They put all their kids through college, apart from Charlie III who chose the armed forces instead, and then they set about assisting their grandchildren, not just with financial means, but by shining like a great light ahead of them, tilling the land with hoes for excellent exercise, sharing the bounties of their growing programs, inviting them to the lake house and the mini-farm to share in all they’d achieved.
When staying at their farm house, they were usually constantly busy with work, mostly outside with the garden and tending to the animals. Because they were acquiring more and more Amish attire, they began to routinely wear the very durable and serviceable clothing, shoes and boots, when working around the farm. Made of natural fibers that were grown organically on Amish or Mennonite farms, and creatively hand-woven on Amish-made looms, the clothing kept the wearer cooler in summer and warmer in winter than typical factory-manufactured clothing. The shoes and boots were also super comfortable, as well as durable, made of leathers from locally grown animals which was hand-tanned by Amish professionals, and custom-made by the hands of Amish experts in leather and artisans in shoe making.
While they were living in their lake home they ate out a great deal, but they rarely did when living in their farm home. Nearly all the food they ate while there was grown or raised on their farm, and nearly all their meals were prepared by Molly. Molly loved to cook and bake, to the enormous delight of Charlie, who absolutely loved to have the home flooded with the mouth-watering aromas of baked foods, especially biscuits - and she spent hours each day in creating delicious meals and snacks for her and Charlie, as well as their many guests and visitors.
It seemed that they almost always had at least one other person eating with them at every meal of the day. With neighborhood children, and grandchildren, around most of the time, sometimes quite a few of them running in and out of the house, Molly kept the kitchen and dining room tables loaded with breads, biscuits, pies, cakes, cookies, donuts, jams and jellies, a variety of seasonal fruits and vegetables, and other snacks. She also made sure that the coffee pots were kept filled with fresh coffee, the teapot ready to brew tea, and the refrigerators filled with pitchers of milk, cider, and water, as well as with lunch meats, cheeses, and other delectable snacks, such as home-made candies. On most days, it seemed, there was a steady stream of children, and adults, grabbing items from the tables and refrigerators, and either eating them on the run, or sitting, singly or in small groups, at a table.
The house pantries were kept fully stocked with condiments, home-grown herbs, a variety of flour and other baking and cooking ingredients, a variety of canned fruits and vegetables (mostly contained in Mason jars), and baskets of a variety of fruits and vegetables. The cellar shelves were literally full of canned fruits; vegetables; fruit sauces, jams and jellies; slabs and rounds of cheeses, and many other delectable food items; the cellar floor was crammed with crocks, kegs, and large jars of ciders, juices, beers and milk, and baskets of fruit and vegetables; and hanging from cross-beams of the cellar ceiling, were cured hams and large tubes of thuringers, sausages and other processed meats.
From the time she was a girl, helping her mother in the kitchen, Molly became quite experienced in canning and other forms of food preservation. However, she did not even come close to having the experience, skills and creativity of June, their share-cropper.