Homestead mailing list

[Cathy <goosecreekfarm AT gmail.com>]

On Tue, Jan 6, 2009 at 12:47 PM, EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net> wrote:


>  I just wonder how common it was (and how
> expensive it was) for a rural Southerner to have wheat, something they
> can't grow themselves and something that would have to be
> 'imported'...either by rail or river.   Certainly it would be seemingly
> tough for early colonists to have wheat flour in their kitchens?
>

I don't know the answer to your interesting question.

I read a biography of a Methodist circuit rider, Robert Sheffey.  He worked
in Giles county Virginia and into West Virginia, would have been mid 1800s I
think.  I've forgotten most of the book, but one scene stuck with me.  He
accepted an invitation to dinner after one of his camp meetings.  The woman
of the house is described as having devoted a great deal of time and energy
to the dinner and loaded the table down with goodies.  The visit was in
summer, and she was sweating from the heat of the kitchen.  The biographer
reports Sheffey's only comment as something like "The meal would have been
better if you hadn't forgotten the biscuits. "

Cathy