My Childhood Was a Dream

by Elianna Barger 

I was born in 1866. I grew up on a ranch in Southern California, where we proudly raised cows, pigs, goats, and chickens. My family consisted of four kids, Ma and Pa, and the two farm dogs. Every morning at sunrise we would wake up and do our chores. Our chores were feeding the animals, cleaning their stalls and collecting the eggs from the chicken coop. The year 1880 was huge for me and my folks. We got orange trees, which was a mighty big deal, since oranges were hard to get. A couple of times we had bandits break into our orchard, because they wanted our oranges, but our fierce dogs always chased them off.

I used to spend my days riding my Paint horse Ruger. He was my favorite because I bought him with the money I made from selling my veggies. Our favorite spot was by the pond under the weeping willow, which my Pa planted when we moved to California. We simply loved to herd up the cattle every night, and lasso the cows who got loose. After all the chores were done at night we would sometimes ride to the edge of the cliff which was past the orchards and the pond, to watch as the beautiful country sun was setting.

On Saturdays, me and my folks would happily hitch up our wagon to our team of draft horses, who were very loyal, and ride into town. We each went our own ways getting things off the shopping list that Ma made for us. After all the shopping was done, we would go to Abigail's Cafe, where we would eat lunch, then we would leave town, because we needed to get ready for church on Sunday.

Sunday church was always so fun. After service, all the families, who had brought something to eat, would spread all the food they had out on a table, and we would have a whole church potluck. Most Sundays we bought pies and orange juice that we had made the night before. The fresh squeezed orange juice was usually the first thing gone, because orange juice was really rare. Sometimes Pa would let me bring Ruger and all the other kids would bring their horses, and we would have a horse race. Ruger and I won a couple  of times. Whenever I would bring Ruger, all the little kids would want to ride him, because he was a gentle giant. I loved living on our ranch in California. Even though the work was hard, it was worth it for the long run. My life in Yerba Buena, now called San Francisco, was a childhood dream.