I don’t know when Opa and Oma married. It must have been around 1895. [March 15, 1895] They farmed in Berkenwoude on the Jacobshoeve. [Benedenkerkseweg, where the de Jong’s lived, is one leg of the road running between Stolwijk and Berkenwoude] We went there often when we went to school since it was not so far from school, only about 5 km and we often went there before school started for a few minutes. I still remember that my Aunt Cor and five of my uncles were still single and living at home. We felt much more comfortable with the Slingerland family than with the de Jongs. The de Jong’s were quite a bit older and more solemn while the Slingerlands were younger and happier.

It was a big farm. They had many cows, but I especially remember all the different colours, reds, blues, grey, a completely white albino and many with special markings. Opa had really nice cows and liked nice colours. Besides that, they had many pigs and swans, sometimes about 30 pairs. They also had a lot of ducks and pigeons, a couple dogs and cats, and we really enjoyed being there.

There was some good fishing water and we went along often for milking. Sometimes with the Schouw (milk boat) which was normal but Opa was the only farmer who also had a row boat and we thought that was great. I still remember going milking with Uncle Wim to a far away field in a rowboat and thought that was a great adventure.

We always liked it at Opa’s place. It was a big farm and when we started school one aunt and five of my uncles were still living at home, most of them in their early twenties. The youngest, my uncle Maarten, was only 11 years older than me so there was always something to do there.