the absence of tires is one of its safety features
Jude and I moved to the farm in August, when the vegetation was at peak
abundance. As the autumn and winter rains literally leveled the playing
field, we discovered this:
It’s an Oldsmobile, circa 1926. Check out the wooden spokes on that wheel. Its
history is sketchy and anecdotal, but we believe it was one of the first cars on the
island. The man who built our farm house bought it for his son, who died in his
early 20’s. We first heard that the son drowned in the pond near the house, and
I liked to think that his family never moved it again in their grief.
Wrong. The fellow we bought the farm from told us he’d moved it once. Then I
found a newspaper article noting that the young man had died from disease in
hospital. Only his age was close to accurate. So I didn’t feel that we were being
disrespectful when we put it up on blocks about a year ago.
Jude and I are digging out the salmonberry bushes around the car. In the spring,
we’re going to build a deer-proof rock barrier around it and plant sunflowers where
the seats were.
We thought sunflowers, which grow really well here, are the perfect choice
for a fossil-fuel burner turned planter. The car is next to the greenhouse,
close to the solar panels and not far from the beehives. I’ll be posting pics
of its progress.
