Memories of Long Ago Part 2 of 3

Memories of Long Ago Part 2 of 3

In spring time when the asparagus started to grow, all the children got up early in the mornings to help Mother and Dad cut the asparagus and get it ready for sale to the grocery stores. The stalks had to be rinsed with water and bundled with an elastic band into one pound bunches. The grocery stores bought the asparagus for 25 cents a pound.

The older children helped with the chores when it did not interfere with their school work. Sometimes Adeline and I were asked to milk the two cows the family owned. I was very skittish around cows. I knew they are gentle creatures but their size intimidated and frightened me. I was even afraid of cows in the pastures that Adeline and I crossed on the way to and from school. If any of the cows grazing at the bottom of the hill near the creek started ambling toward the fence line where the path was, I asked Adeline to run ahead and shoo them away.

Tippy, a collie was our favorite pet, but we also had a pet pig. It had received special attention to help it survive and was kept in a box close to the kitchen wood stove. As the pig grew it was housebroken and slept in the corner of the kitchen at night. The pig was very intelligent and learned how to open the kitchen screen door by itself. When it wanted to go out, it would gently bump the screen with it’s snout until the hook popped open. When he wanted to come back in, he would make oink sounds. If the pig was ignored or no one heard him, the noises got louder. The pig was very gentle and loved having his tummy scratched. One day Mom gave orders that the pig had to stay outside; that it could no longer come into the house. We children protested, but knew that eventually the pig would grow too big to be a pet. We took him to the barn where he joined his siblings in the pen with the other pigs.

Another pet we had during those years was a white calf. It had to be taught how to eat from a bucket. Dry feed was mixed with milk for the calf to drink. To teach the calf to drink the food, we dipped a hand into the food, and then slipped it into the calf’s mouth so it could taste the food and start sucking. When we dipped our hand back into the bucket, the calf learned where the food was and in a few days he eagerly gulped his meals. While the calf was young it was staked near the house in a grassy area. When it learned to graze, we moved it to a new grassy plot several times during the day.

There were many chores that had to be done on the little acreage. Besides the acres of asparagus, there were large beds of strawberries, blackberries and raspberries that had to be picked. We always had a big vegetable garden and there were chickens to feed and eggs to collect. Dad helped with the chores before going to his office at the telephone company and again when he got home from work. We girls and boys helped before and after school.

One day Dad called everyone together and told them that he was going to get some bee hives so the family would have honey and there would be enough to sell. Dad showed everyone the catalog from a company in South Carolina that sold queen bees and the equipment needed to work with them. There were hats with screens covering the face, heavy gloves and other protective clothing for protection from bee stings. There was a can used to make smoke which calmed the bees when you took honey from the hives.

Every one was excited when the hives arrived. Father chose to put them near the berry patches so they would not interfere with activities near the house. As time went by, we children learned a lot about bees and helped Dad check the hives to see how much honey was being made. When a colony of bees got too big to live in one hive, they swarmed, which meant half the bees would leave with a new queen bee and start a new colony somewhere else.

One day one of the children saw the bees beginning to swarm and called for everyone to come and see. The bees began to form a buzzing mass in the air above the hive with a new queen surrounded by worker bees protecting her. As more bees streamed out of the hive to join the new queen, Charles picked up a clod of dirt and tossed it into the air and into the swarming bees. He held out his arm and the new colony settled on it. He was able to very gently push the bees into an empty hive without getting stung. Everyone praised Charles for being so brave! It had been a very exciting event and everyone was happy and very proud of Charles.