In 1997 we visited one of the farms that my husba
nd grew up on as a boy.
“This is where I caught my leg in the grain conveyer chain,” he reminisced. “Your Grandpa didn’t believe it was broken!”
“When I was six, I sat under the old red gas tank and filled a coffee full of gasoline and threw a lighted match into it. The flames swooshed up and singed my eyebrows. Boy, did I catch it for that one!”
“Here’s the bedroom window I used to climb out of to get to the old oak tree…”
“Daddy, please tell us another one!” our children begged.
Painting vivid word pictures of his life as a little boy on the farm was a common occurrence in our home. Over the years “Daddy’s” farm stories were woven into the fabric of our children’s lives. The constant telling and retelling of them set a longing in all our hearts for a little farmette of our own. We dreamt about the possibilities while driving through the countryside not too far from our home in Northern Illinois.
In 1999, a series of life-changing events prompted us to sell our house and move to a farm within a mile of where Robert grew up. It didn’t take our children long to go exploring. They found a grove of young trees and tall grass to the southeast of the house. Following a path the deer had made, they came upon a brook just beyond the whispering leaves, a real Pebbly Brook!
This is how our new country setting became the inspiration for The Pebbly Brook Farm Stories. Between the antics of the wildlife and the escapades of our four children, new farm stories began to take shape. Some of them fit so well with Robert’s childhood farm stories, we realized the past was just waiting to be united with the present.
Our daughter Claire, who inherited her father’s storytelling gene, masterfully wove these experiences together into The Pebbly Brook Farm Collection. Set in the days of The Great Depression, Dan Robertson moves his wife and four children back to the family farm to live with Grandpa and Grandma Robertson. And that’s when the adventure begins!
These truly delightful stories will teach your children valuable lessons in faith, courage and perseverance at a time when our country is facing many of the hardships we did back then. Join Katie Robinson, her brother Joseph, and her little sisters, Christine and Anna in these six action packed stories that are sure to warm your hearts and make you smile! You’ll find them waiting for you at Pebbly Brook Farm.
The Pebbly Brook Farm Collection includes:
The Discovery of Pebbly Brook
Double Duty
By the Bushel Full
One Big Shot
Judy Gets a Lickin’
Fairest of the Fair
Purchase The Pebbly Brook Stories here
Hope to see you down on the farm!
Jill Novak