Down Memory Lane with Artie, back when he lived, worked and grew up "Down on the Farm"

A hard workin' farm boy, who now resides in Maine, takes us back with him and his brothers to the family farm. The following is the fourteenth posting in my farmer appreciation series....    

"I grew up on a small dairy / hog farm in Southeastern Massachusetts, oldest of four boys. When I was small I had after school chores that included cleaning cow manure in the barn, feed off the grain and silage to the cows. Hard, physical work that I wouldn’t change it for the world.

"We lived in a small uninsulated farm house; main heat supply was a wood stove in the kitchen. Long Johns were a very important thing on the farm. There was no official start date to long underwear season, just Ma saying that Dad is in long johns so you boys get them on before you go to the barn.

"The above picture of rural brothers is special to me as we were spaced out in years like they were. We boys would shed our barn clothes in the back room and stand all around in our long underwear warming up while Ma got us our “clean jeans” to put on. We would play grab ass and fight like brothers do! 

"I can still hear my Grandma saying “you look like perfect gentleman in your underpants “ in an exaggerated Irish accent while my Mother laughed at her sense of humor. 

"Growing up on a dairy farm, I learned to always wear clean long johns to bed so your sheets don’t smell like corn silage.

"There's still a little rural boy left in me.... Artie up in Maine."

Farm boy and union suit fan, all grown up, learned the values of hard work as a youngster. Like most every farm kid, those lessons were taken to heart and have served him (and them, I presume) well. 

Thanks, Artie, for sharing your story of growing up on a farm.  

Long time union suit fans will remember another couple of farm boy postings I featured written by Ron Payne, a great friend over the years. He honored me by portraying his early years on a farm in Virginia. Here's a portion....Scroll back to November 14, 2019 in Union Suit Fan to "An Innocent Rube" for one of the best stories of youth and union suits you'll read!  A big shout out to my buddy, Ron, for his memories.....

Growing up back in the 50's there were union suits in the inventory of clothing stores that served small towns and farming communities. I always shunned union suits as being too ridiculous looking when I was a youngster. But when I got into high school and was changing into gym clothes, I saw a few of the boys from the nearby farms wearing union suits without shame. They laughed at themselves and ribbed each other over their "hillbilly" long johns. But there also seemed to be an element of pride in wearing "country boy" underwear.

I grew up in Loudoun County in northern Virginia on a farm between Purcellville and Lincoln. My Dad wore two piece thermal underwear but no one I knew wore union suits. I'd only seen men in union suits on TV or in the movies and it was always associated with comical humiliation. Like John Payne in "Restless Gun" when masked men held him up and made him strip down to his union suit. He had to walk into town in his one-piece long johns while the townsfolk laughed. But I saw union suits at the clothing store in Purcellville and, of course, there were the Sears catalog ads. Any type of long underwear seemed an embarrassment to me when I was a kid. So I avoided the thermal two piece type that my father wore, not to mention union suits. Being shy, I was afraid of looking stupid and having people laugh at me....

Read more in those postings I mentioned above and then take a look at Ron's update which I posted in 2023. You'll want to turn to that one too. Here's a portion:

Why Be Shy? How I Came to Stop Worrying and Love the Union Suit   

By Ronald Payne, Guest Contributor

I grew up on a Dairy Farm in northern Virginia during the 1950s and like other boys who lived on a farm I was expected to do at least some farm chores. I was excused from helping with the milking (I was scared of the cows that were so much bigger than I was) but other chores like gathering eggs, feeding livestock and driving a tractor during haymaking season were a part of my growing up. This necessitated wearing work clothes which I hated. I didn’t want any part of a farm identity (I wanted to be a sophisticated city kid). I was afraid I’d be seen in farm work clothes by other kids.  When winter came around I drew the line on wearing long underwear.  My Dad wore the two piece variety, but I thought “long johns” were just too embarrassing. If I had to be outside in snowy cold weather, I’d happily wear coats and sweaters, but no way I’d ever wear “long johns”...... 

Thanks, again, Ron...Chris 

Down On The Farm with Jerry!

A couple of weeks ago, I featured farmer charicatures of my favorite cartoonist, author, fellow union suit wearer and all around good man, Jerry Walters. 

As we are approaching the end of my agricultural series, Jerry forwarded me a self drawing, celebrating the farmers and ranchers featured in this blog lately and all the farmers and their families who keep this country and the world fed. 

 
Jerry Walters

In this, the thirteenth posting in "Down On the Farm,"  I offer my heartfelt thanks to Jerry for the many contributions he has so cheerfully provided to Union Suit Fan over the years! ....Chris 

Speaking of Farmers, Here's a Trip Down Union Suit Lane...

my agricultural posting back on June 16, 2019. Tis the twelfth in my posting, "Down On the Farm...

Like all agricultural workers, Gardener John toils mightily from sunup to sundown in his garden. Lately he worked so hard hoeing and planting and weeding, he shed his overalls and shirt, deciding he could work just as well in his long johns and be more comfortable. Still, he worked up quite a sweat. So, like millions of other gardeners, farmers, and toiling outdoor workers before him, he learned that his union suit cooled him down in conjunction with a gentle breeze. 

While working he noticed that his bright red union suit kept birds, from crows to sparrows, away from his garden so he decided to spend an hour or two each day as a human scarecrow. 

Garderner John, Union Suit Fan
 and Part-time Scarecrow

Added June 19, 2019:
Clay of Saranac, NY emailed me a photo of a scarecrow with this comment...

"Chris, ole John better be careful standing out in the hot sun in his red union suit or like this scarecrow, it will likely turn pink!  And, notice the crow at the bottom of the picture? Goes to show you that once your long underwear fades it's no longer conducive to keeping the varmints away!  ... Clay"

If I ever try this myself, Clay, I will take heed of your warning. After all, who wants a faded pink union suit?  ...Chris

And Seth of Bangor, Maine sent me this:

"Chris, here's a picture of a hen and a farm boy wearing a sweater over his union suit while washing his feet. Even chickens aren't chicken of this kid... Seth"  

Ha! Thanks Guys ... Chris

Celebrating my friend, Jerry Walters, 

and his extrordinary caricatures in my "Down On the Farm!" series. You can enjoy the drawing of "Old Thornberry" found within Jerry's several books. And others, like a favorite "farmer" posting below, which I featured in my introduction of Jerry to Union Suit Fans back on September 25, 2019. This is the eleventh entry for my warm winter underwear series, Down On the Farm...

 Hey, Union Suit Fans! 

Introducing a very fine, entertaining author, illustrator, storyteller, all around good guy, and fellow Union Suit Fan... Jerry Walters

For several months now I have been enjoying Jerry's books.  He is an exceptional storyteller and illustrator. With his permission, I am featuring some of my favorite characters from those books of his. From his website, Jerry says, "Just love to do fun silly stories."  I think you'll agree. Here are a few book excerpts...

From the Book, Bud. Farmer Fred wades into the mud to grab his prized pig so he can take him to the county fair. In the process, Fred looses his clothes but, oh well, he proceeds to the fair in his union suit anyway:

 
He isn't going to let a little thing like attending the festivities in his long underwear stand in his way of a good time!

n

I'm sure you'd love to check out these stories in more detail and to see other of Jerry's books. So go to:  www.blurb.com
and type in "The Legend of Thunder Cow."  Buy a couple books and enjoy.

Jerry knows, what many of us experience, union suits are warm and comfortable and this type of long underwear is worn by many of us for a good portion of the year. But, possibly even more important for Union Suit Fans, is the fact that Jerry knows one-piece long johns with the escape hatch in the rear are fun to wear, share and draw! 

So, welcome back my good friend, Jerry, and continue to enjoy my series of Down On the Farm....Chris

For a look at winter fun, switch over to my companion blog, Union Suit Fans in the Limelight, to see how Chicago college boys prepare for a ski trip to the Utah Rockies!

Farm Country Can Be A Dangerous Place! 

For the tenth in my series, Down on the Farm, take a look at this re-posting of a city boy who found real trouble out hunting in the country, first offered on September 1, 2023 in Union Suit Fan:

Intruder

Twelve years before my favorite book, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, was published in 1960 and the subsequent 1962 unforgettable film starring my favorite actor, Gregory Peck, was released in theaters everywhere, a book by William Faulkner was published, dealing with a similar theme. Intruder In The Dust 
was published in 1948. A 1949 MGM movie was subsequently filmed based on this book as well. Like Mockingbird, Intruder was about a Mississippi black man, in this case a farmer, who was accused of a crime he did not commit. In Faulkner's book and movie, two teenage boys, one white and one black, a small town spinster, and a white country lawyer were shown assisting the quiet and compassionate Lucas Beauchamp in this thought-provoking crime drama wherein he was thought by most white folks as having a killed a white man. Faulkner was paid $50,000 for the film rights. The movie was shot in Faulkner's home town of Oxford, Mississippi.

The book opens with the white boy, Chick Mallison. later played by Claude Jarman, Jr. in the film, racing across the winter landscape, rabbit hunting. Misfortune follows Chick as he trips and falls into a partially frozen creek where he nearly freezes to death. His black friend helps him stumble to the closest shelter possible which happens to be the modest home of Lucas and Molly Beauchamp. Hoping to warm the thoroughly drenched boy before he succumbs to the bitter cold, Chick is saved by being undressed down to his union suit and sat before a warm fire while his clothes dry. Eventually, Molly coaxes Chick out of his wet woolen long underwear too, wraps him in a blanket and hangs up the long johns with his other clothes. Thus begins the saga of working to save the proud, kindhearted Lucas from a conviction of something he did not do.

Like much of William Faulkner's works, I found his book version hard to follow but certainly worth reading. The movie was very well filmed (in black and white), well acted and easier to follow. While not receiving the acclaim of the Harper Lee book and film, Intruder In The Dust made a significant impact on society, the plight of blacks in America before the civil rights movement, and for raising the consciousness of the African American dire straits and white attitudes of the 1940's and 50's.