By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
Memories of life down on the farm were shared Saturday afternoon at Lowe-Volk Park as the Crawford Park District hosted Telling Tales of Crawford County dairy farms.
The Telling Tales event was held in a round table discussion in which people reflected on their experiences in and around the dairy farms of Crawford County. Herb Stiffler recalled his youth on a dairy farm near Crestline.
“When I was a little kid we had about six or seven cows, sometimes eight or nine. My mom and dad milked them, but mostly my mom did it, and they sold milk to Nestle’s in Crestline. They would have a truck come and pick it up,” Stiffler said. “Before that my dad used to take it in the car and take it up there.”
Not everyone who came to the event had memories of dairy farm life, some came to listen to the memories and absorb the stories from the history of the county. Others didn’t work on the farms themselves, but instead drove the dairy trucks that delivered milk to the members of the community.
Joseph Blum of New Washington compiled a list of the nearly 120 known dairies that existed in Crawford County dating back into the late 1800s through the 1960s.
“Now the big dairy conglomerates run everything, but the little mom and pop dairies were big time at one time in the county.” Blum said.
Jerry Lantz of Galion attended the event, but his dairy farm memories were from when he lived in Seneca County.
“I helped my dad milk the cows and I can remember watching the cats stand back about two feet and they would bat at the drops of milk trying to catch it.” Lantz said.
The Telling Tales of Crawford County Dairy Farms was followed up with Telling Tales of Leesville.