Small Farm in Lynnwood, Washington, was familiar to me after a few visits to the Restore.
The feelings upon just entering the store were that it felt so real, like a past memory came flooding into my thoughts.
I’m in the middle of getting supplies for the Hobbit House I’m remodeling in Washington State. I purchased a 1967 Fleetwood mobile home that has many issues. I do most of the repairs myself. I seek out places that offer building materials at discounted prices. In doing so, I have used The Restore for many of my projects. My latest discovery is that this restoration in Lynnwood is on the property that was my Great Grandparents’ little farm.
Grandma Karrie West (Helvey) was my great-grandmother and a significant role model in my life, particularly in baking, canning, gardening, and finding meaning in life. She was raised in Wyoming. She moved to the NW when my grandfather was relatively young. She then married the grandpa I knew as Grandpa West. He developed dementia later in life. He was a cook at Fircrest Sanitarium in North Seattle. They had a farm in Lynnwood and raised rabbits, chickens, cows, along with strawberries, raspberries, rhubarb, and a variety of other vegetables. They had a cellar in the basement, and she canned everything she could. They supplied a variety of food items to Fircrest.
Not only did I learn how to prepare food to can, but I also learned how to bake bread, banana bread, pumpkin pies, lemon meringue, and chocolate brownies, all using natural ingredients. She grew herbs, garlic, and almost anything you could think of. They sold some of the farmed goods. When we went to dinner at their house, we always had a feast.
The two things that stick out in our relationship over the years were these two things.
She said: We are WHAT WE EAT, DRINK & THINK. She made this a part of her life and left a lasting impression on me. I had gotten married to my husband, Larry. We went on a honeymoon and visited her, who is now living close to Grandpa Helvey in Cashmere. She arranged for us to sleep in separate areas of the house, since we hadn’t been married long enough. She didn’t even have a clue that we had been living together for almost a year.
She would be very loving and caring towards me and my sisters; she loved to host gatherings and share the fruits of her garden. My memories of her remain deeply ingrained in me today. The most precious thing I remember was when Grandpa West passed away, and she moved to Cashmere, close to my Grandpa Helvey. She still gardened, and we still visited every summer, camping at Lake Chelan. Our cousin Eddy Helvey was visiting her, and she told him she was going in and was going to sleep and wasn’t going to wake up. She was always kidding with everyone, and Eddy didn’t believe her until he went in to wake her up and found she had passed.
During the Holidays her image enters my thoughts on how she taught me so much about being connects to family.