MEXICO – When Gail Parent would bring her second-grade students to the farm she grew up in, she was amazed with their fascination.

They loved the barns, the fields, everything at the farm.

A few years later, she, now a retired elementary teacher, and her four siblings realized that farm life of the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s was fast becoming a piece of history. So they decided to write a book about the land, the buildings, the animals, the people and the adventures of growing up on a rural Maine farm.

“We wanted to pass on the experiences to future generations,” said Joyce Morgan, a sister who now lives at the farm perched atop Thompson Hill in Mexico.

That book, titled “Once Upon A Farm,” was printed in 1993, and to the family’s amazement, sold 1,000 copies. Many went to local libraries and schools, but most were snapped up by people who remembered similar upbringings.

“People enjoyed the first one and encouraged us to write another,” said Morgan. “Classmates we hadn’t seen since school appeared at the book signing.”

Now, more than 10 years later, Volume II is coming out.

Four of the five siblings will be on hand from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 23, at Pennacook Art Center to sign copies.

Besides Parent, who now lives in Hanover, and Morgan, their sister Fern Stearns of Milford and brother Lloyd Crossland of Connecticut will attend the book signing. Although brother Burton Crossland of Hawaii contributed to the book, he is unable to make the trip. All three sisters are retired teachers. The brothers are retired engineers.

The siblings’ parents moved to Maine via Massachusetts from Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia during the industrial boom in Rumford caused by the construction of the new paper mill. The parents bought the 100-acre farm in 1929, just before the stock market crash. But despite the economic disaster, the farm operated for 30 years.

While the first volume concentrated on daily stories of the activities that took place at the home, the second volume provides a bit more history of their parents’ background, and the effect growing up on a rural farm had on each of the children.

They decided to write the books for another reason, too.

“We’re hoping it will stimulate others to write down their memories,” said Parent.

Memories such as wearing the beautifully stitched clothes made by their mother. Or the many people who stayed at the farm during difficult times. Or the fear Parent had when she was instructed to sing for her brother, Lloyd, when he returned from World War II.

“He didn’t come home until Christmas night. I was supposed to sing Kiss Me Once and Kiss Me Twice,’ but I was scared to death and just cried,” said Parent, who was barely older than a toddler at the time.

“We lived a life that is now history,” said Morgan.

The book also provides some history of the English and Scottish immigrants in the area. It is a tribute to their parents, Pearl and Byron McLennan Crossland.

What: Book signing for “Once Upon A Farm, Vol. II”

When: 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 23

Where: Pennacook Art Center, Congress Street
“Morning was coming for sure. The sound of the cast iron covers of the wood stove in the farm house kitchen rattling and banging was our alarm clock. Not time to get up yet, but start thinking about it. Two more hours till the first rays of dawn would appear, and the workday was beginning.”
Joyce Morgan