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  • From: Don Bowen KI6DIU <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] corn
  • Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:05:44 -0800

At 11/6/2007, you wrote:
Yes, corn. I remember wheat and oats and soybeans and hayfields, but I
really remember corn.

We grew mostly corn but also soybeans in rotation. As for wheat we had a 15 acre allotment.

I remember running though the corn using your arms as shields and getting the undersides scratched. It was always a cool place to play in the hot summer. Walk down to the canal or just the little creek and play in the water then walk back through the corn field.

We picked corn and stored it in a crib. Then my uncle had a truck mounted sheller and would come by and shell what we or our neighbor needed for hog feed. I still have the nasty scar from when my brother and I ran one of our concoctions down the hill into the pile of cobs. I fell off and got my leg caught in the chain. I spent a lot of time as a kid getting hurt in one of my brothers concoctions.

As for mistreating little brothers, there is one my mother still remembers. After plowing my father would put grease on the plow to make it easier to scour the next time. He usually used grease that was left in the bottom of the bucket. One time he got his hands on some really stringy, sticky, heavy black oil. My brother and I greased the plow then played with the grease by writing our names in the dust and drawing things. The our youngest brother came by to see what we were doing so we got him in on the act. Before we were done we had him completely covered from head to toe with that stuff. We then wisely decided it was time to play in the creek for at least the rest of the day. Our little brother went to the house where our mother had a real fit. She had to strip him outside and dump him in the wash tub with the strongest soap she could find. We played in the water until after dark but we were still in deep trouble when we got home. My mother to this day still remembers that little escapade along with a few others.

We had about 200 acres of corn and bean fields, about 50 acres of pasture, many acres of neighboring woods, plus a little creek, 3 ponds, and a drainage canal to play in. We also had a shop with a welder and a junk yard and we put all that to use. My mother says that she did not know where we were most of the summer. As I think of it, it is a wonder we did not get hurt worse that we did.


Don Bowen Awl Knotted Up KI6DIU
http://www.braingarage.com




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