Guest House, Part 2

Last week I gave you the big reveal on our new project.  If you missed it, you might want to read about that first, here!

I also started giving you a bit of farm history and how we came into this project.  We got up to the part when Ken's Grandma Ella married John Ressler in 1926, and John joined the farm.

Here's one of the depression-era stories I've always found quite interesting: 

• In 1933, Grandpa John went to buy a cow from a neighbor.  He picked out the cow he wanted, but then the neighbor convinced him to buy two cows. 
• Grandpa went to the bank and withdrew the money, paid the neighbor, and took the cows home.  That happened on Friday...and the following Monday morning was the day the banks didn't open.  But Grandpa had his cows, and the neighbor had his money! 
• One of Ken's brothers had an interest in cattle bloodlines at one point, and his research indicated that one of those two cows was the best bloodline in the whole milking herd, with many quality offspring.  But we have no idea if it was the cow Grandpa John picked out...or the cow he was talked into buying!  But I'd say that was a God-deal!!

John and Ella purchased the farm in 1945.

Ken's dad, Glenn, was one of five children born to John and Ella.  One of Glenn's early recollections was of helping his dad pile apples (from the farm orchard which Daniel H. had planted) in the back of a pickup truck, taking them to Smucker's, and shoveling them into a pit for apple butter.  Of course, that's when Smucker's was a very small operation!!

Glenn married Clara in 1956, and in 1967 they purchased the farm from John and Ella.

Next week, hopefully I'll bring you up to the present and how we ended up with the "guest house"...which is why we started this story!

Here's a sunrise view from the front porch of the guest house...