Oleo Acres…one of the cheaper spreads

Arthur and Ruth (Hanscom) Cummings posed in front of their garage for this photograph in the late summer of 1973. They had just spent the afternoon showing their nephew and his new wife (myself) around their farm. They called their spread Oleo Acres, a small acreage in Rumford, Oxford County, Maine.¹ 

I believe Arthur and Ruth both worked at the local dowel factory, and they had examples of many different types–of dowels. That day I learned all about dowels. I’m absolutely certain that Uncle Arthur had twinkle in his eyes as he explained the intricacies of this unknown technology to me.

Besides dowels, Uncle Arthur was very proud of his collection of Zane Grey novels. Did I share that my own Grandfather had been a cowboy on a ranch in Arizona? I hope so, because Arthur would have been tickled.

He also taught us how to water witch. He used a forked branch as his divining rod.  I can still remember the feel of the branch tugging against my grip as it struggled to get closer to the ground and the water beneath. Presumably the water source was a water pipe, or so said our expert dowser. I am such a skeptic! I’m still trying to figure out how it was done. A gullible skeptic?

They also had an apple tree which was grafted to produce different varieties of the fruit, which ripened in succession throughout the season. I can’t remember if we had a chance to eat one of them, but I think we did.

I’ve never forgotten my visit to Oleo Acres. I learned about dowels, water witching, and grafting fruit trees, and about two warm, funny and loving people who opened up their home to a wandering nephew and his wife.

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Notes

1 Arthur is the older brother of Ruth May (Cummings) Sorofman, my mother-in-law.