Wooden Toys
Free Shipping
on all toys on this page
A few words from Farmer Hank
My father was born in the late 1920's on a farm near Wylie, Minnesota. My father always talked about how his father would take him out to the barn when it was time to milk cows. Although he was too young to help with chores, he liked being pulled to the barn and back to the house while riding in his wagon. In the winter his father would exchange the wagon for a sled and pull him to the barn and back. I remember listening to one memorable story that my father liked to tell.
The winter storms in that day were much more severe than those of today. It was not uncommon to have white-outs so bad that you could not see the barn from the house. Storm or no storm, the cows needed to be milked; so each fall a rope was strung between the house and the barn. During storms, my dad's father would keep one hand on the rope as he pulled the sled back and forth. I often wondered why my grandfather would pull his young son to that old barn twice every day; storm or no storm. Years after hearing the story for the first time I realized that my grandfather was conditioning my father for the twice a day trip to the barn. When my father was old enough to help with the milking, he never questioned having to go do chores twice every day. My father grew up knowing that there were certain things in life that had to be done; storm or no storm.
So what does that story have to do with wooden toys? My father told me that one of the warmest memories he had of his young years, was that after being pulled through the storm back to the house, he would get to sit on a big oval carpet in front of the wood stove and play with his wooden toys. It was because of my fathers story that I decided to offer wooden toys at Mantorville Farms. If you decide to give a child one of these fine wooden toys, please give the toy along with one of your own fine stories.
Hank
Click any image to see more information
