Heirloom vegetables , heirloom fruit trees , family heirloom — the term “ heirloom ” gets tossed around with some frequency , typically in regard to something sure-enough and worthful . Heirloom plants are prize for their historical , proven genetics . Family heirlooms are items passed down from generation to generation until they take on an aura of diachronic significance , regardless of whether they have any pecuniary value .
You might not consider tools as items that diminish into the family of “ home heirlooms , ” but for hobby farmers and those who take account the quality of good tools , maybe the notion is n’t so far - fetched . In fact , I would argue that heirloom prick can be just as special — if not more so — as any other case of heirloom , be they objects or plant . countenance me to explain .
Recently , I visited the small farm where my grandparents spent their summers . It ’s been year since Grandpa ( who give ourJohn Deere Model 40 its soubriquet “ Little Mo ” ) live in the pocket-size farmhouse on the hill , but the farm is still in the family , and during my sojourn I aimed to transfer a few diminished lilac bushes to propagate on my own farm .
While there , I also walked into Grandpa ’s tool shed , which is pretty much just how he left it . There ’s still a rope to keep the door from opening too wide , while inside , gather dust , are a few empty natural gas cans , a raft of screws … and a handful of older tools .
I ’ve long been a big fan of hand adage — I’ve written about them extensively in the past — and hanging on a nail in the tool shed I see a long , fine - toothed saw that still face reasonably sharp despite its age . I cautiously removed it from the paries , realizing that I was probably the first to touch it since Grandpa hung it there years ago . So I wipe off the cobwebs .
Also in the instrument shed was a pitchfork with four tines ; it was old , but the tines were neat , and it looked ready for a fussy summer of garden workplace after year of sit down in the shed with the proverb .
It ’s hard to say where these tool come from — it ’s possible that Grandpa “ borrow ” them from us at some point in the past — but I for sure know where the tools are going . They ’re coming back to my farm , where they ’ll get cleaned up and put back into armed service . And whenever I ’m pruning tree or turning over sod , I can take care down at the tools in my hand — Grandpa ’s tools — and be reminded of those summertime Clarence Shepard Day Jr. when he wouldbuild a clothesline , dig out a drainage ditchor only relax with the family and play cards while everyone express mirth at his jokes .
Thanks for the tools , Grandpa . Heirloom tools , I guess , passed on to a new generation . That ’s jolly peculiar , is n’t it ?
