Interviewer: What about um 461: That's where it gots i- got it's name. See smokehouse is where we'd smoke that meat. Interviewer: Mm-hmm Um the top part the covering on the the top of the house you'd call that the? {NW} 461: Well we call it uh we call it the roof. Interviewer: Mm-hmm you know there's a 461: But then now the top of that was made out of a uh well uh if the top of the house was caught on fire and say that the top of the house caught on fire well uh it was out of a board. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: They were bursted in in out of uh cypress board. Interviewer: Mm-hmm What um of course they wouldn't of had this then but now a days you might have something along the edge of the roof to carry the water off? 461: I don't think we had that. Interviewer: Do you have that on on your house now? 461: Now you talking about uh uh the uh what uh the gutter out there? Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: We didn't have that. I don't have it here. Interviewer: What's the gutter exactly is that built on or does it built in or does it hang on there or? 461: Um you talking about on any house? Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: I think I've seen them both ways. Sometimes it's built on the edge and then sometimes it's uh it's not connected on to the edge of the house. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: I just don't know I've had no experience with gutters. Interviewer: Mm-hmm What about when you have a house at an L? You know on that low place in the roof where they come together. Do you know what that's called? 461: No I don't think so. Interviewer: And um say if you had a lot of old worthless things that you were gonna throw out you say you know that's not good anymore that's just? 461: You know what I what we call it then? Interviewer: What? 461: We call it junk then. Interviewer: Uh huh 461: But now then we call it antiques. {NW} Here's something I want to show you. {NS} See {NS} I'm crazy about these now this is ox yoke. Interviewer: Huh 461: See here's one here this small one here my daddy made that. You you put that on ox's neck you know how it is with a cart? Interviewer: Uh huh 461: And put these things through that ring and he would pull that cart. One ox would do that see on it this is a single yoke. Interviewer: Huh 461: And here's a double yoke. Interviewer: Uh huh 461: Now what's missing is that piece of wood that's been in the bow the bows see there was two one went in here and one over here but they're missing. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: And it would uh two oxen would pull this you see? Interviewer: Hmm 461: Now this is what we called a ox yoke back then and they they would keep care of things they wouldn't throw anything away like this. See they had to have this. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: But something that they didn't need was junk. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: Like an old sewing machine? Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: when it got to where it wasn't any good it was junk. Interviewer: Uh huh {NW} Where would you keep the junk if if you didn't throw it out? #1 Say um # 461: #2 we keep it in this # uh okay well like old plow tools anything that was out of iron or steel see we'd just pile it up in the corner somewhere. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: And save it because the junk man would be by. We'd save a little junk out. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: And uh the rest of this stuff that we would consider junk we'd either put it around in the smokehouse now you had to be careful with what items you put in that smokehouse because that salt would rust any kind of metal. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: But if you had say something like a ox yoke out of wood that you might need and uh well you might can s- you know how people they're gonna keep a little bit even though it junk they still let it lay around I guess. Interviewer: #1 But um # 461: #2 yeah # Interviewer: #1 # 461: #2 # they'd put it in that smokehouse or around in the barn. Most of the time they very little bit of stuff that was actually throwed away. Interviewer: Mm-hmm Did you have a special building though something called a junk room or plunder room? 461: No no we don't. Interviewer: Mm-hmm and um tell me about the the work that a woman would have to do you say if the house were all messy she'd say she'd have to? 461: Clean up the house. Interviewer: Okay and what people would sweep with you'd call that a? 461: We call it a broom. Interviewer: And say if the if the broom was in a corner and the door was open so that the door was sort of hiding the broom you'd say that the broom was? Where? 461: In uh in the door jamb? Interviewer: Well yeah with the the door's open so you the door's sort of hiding the broom you'd say the broom was? 461: Well what we do is say uh uh Interviewer: In relation to the door the broom was? 461: Well I we'd always say look behind the door. Interviewer: Mm-kay and um say if you you mentioned um the steps you'd have from a porch to the ground to the porch. What if you had a two story house to get from the first floor to the second floor you'd have a? Would you call those steps if you were inside the house? 461: Yeah Interviewer: So steps 461: We wouldn't say uh uh stairs is what you're talking about? Interviewer: Is wh-which would you call it? 461: We'd call it steps. Interviewer: #1 Inside? # 461: #2 {X} # Yeah that's like it is on this house I showed you awhile ago. We either had the front steps or back steps to the big house or the kitchen. We knew what we was talking about. We always referred to it as steps. Interviewer: Mm-hmm what what about on a two story house though? 461: I'd consider it the same way. I never had any experience but anytime I look at it now it's steps. Interviewer: Uh huh and um you say years ago on Monday woman usually did the? 461: Washing. Interviewer: And on Tuesday? 461: I'd say ironing. Interviewer: Okay is there any um anything you might call both washing and ironing together any one word you'd use for that? 461: Well uh now I tell you what they would do they say I got to do my washing and ironing. Now that was one of the first things that they would do on the weekends. You could go somebody would come to visit but I could hear the conversation. Well you'd hear the ladies talk says I I tomorrow I'm gonna have to do my washing and ironing first before they do anything. Say let's go fishing during the week I just use that for an example. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: I've got to do my washing and ironing but you can't do that in one day. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: It'd take all day to wash because they had to boil the clothes in this wash pot. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: They had to take them out and scrub them and hang them on the line and let them dry. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: And then it was always uh with us now it was a two day affair or more. Because uh the lady wouldn't just get in when she got up on the bed out of the bed on Tuesday morning and just iron all day. Although they would spend a lot of time hours at a time ironing. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: But there may be a few pieces that uh had would have to have special care like different types of materials. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: Uh you'd have to starch them. You see what they'd do they put them in this starch Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: and then they would have to dry. You'd have what you call your rough dry clothes. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: That's where they didn't need any starch. And then you'd have your starch clothes see there was two irons really. Interviewer: Mm-hmm what um now a days say a bachelor if he sent his shirts into town to get them cleaned you'd send them in to a? 461: Into a laundry. Interviewer: Mm-hmm Did you how do you use that word laundry? Do you ever use laundry instead of washing and ironing? 461: Yeah no no I didn't know what a laundry was I picked this up after I you know got out and knew that there was such things as laundry. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: Now then we take our clothes to the laundry. We don't take them to have them washed and dried. I mean ironed. But then it was either washing and iron ironing we didn't know what laundry was. Interviewer: Mm-hmm um talking about porches again for a minute um did you ever hear of any different kinds of porches besides the um the one you mentioned with P? 461: Piazza. Interviewer: Piazza 461: and well I don't think so right now. Interviewer: Do you ever hear of um say a porch that went around more than one side of the house did you ever hear that called anything special? 461: No. Interviewer: Okay um and if the door was open and you didn't want it to be you'd tell someone to? 461: Shut it. Interviewer: Huh? 461: Shut the door. Interviewer: Mm-kay and um 461: Not close it but shut it then. Interviewer: What would you say now? 461: Close the door. Interviewer: Uh huh and you know sometimes on houses you'd have these boards that would lap over each other like this. 461: Yeah Interviewer: But on the outside of the house do you remember what that's called? 461: Weather board? Interviewer: Mm-kay um and say if you were um if you had 461: But we never did have any of the lap boarding. Interviewer: What did you? 461: Well that's what I'm talking about I know that uh the design of this these buildings here Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: the boards always run up and down Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: see they didn't lap like youse talking about. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: Okay then when the board was put side to side Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: and over the years as they dried out then it would leave a big crack. Now then they used to come some of them did and then on certain parts of that house that I was raised in had it. Uh but some didn't they might've did when they first built the house but you see when it left that crack, and they would do it when they first built the house they would come with a small strip about that wide Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: on the outside and cover that crack up and nail it with smaller nails over that crack. #1 You see? # Interviewer: #2 Mm-hmm # 461: #1 # Interviewer: #2 # 461: Because it would it would leave cracks you could stick your hand through sometimes. You could see out. Interviewer: I bet that got cold. 461: Mm-hmm Interviewer: Say if if you were gonna hang up a picture or something you'd say I took the hammer and I what the nail in to the wall? 461: {D: Club} Interviewer: And you say um if it didn't get in far enough you'd say it's gotta be what in further? 461: It's gotta be drove further in. Interviewer: Okay and um you say I pick up the hammer and I what the nail in? 461: What's that again now? Interviewer: You say I pick up the hammer and I what the nail in? 461: Drove it in? Interviewer: Or I will pick I will what the nail in? 461: Drive it in. Interviewer: Okay and um what different you mention you had the barn um where did you keep the corn? #1 Did you have a special place? # 461: #2 We had a crib. # Interviewer: #1 # 461: #2 # Interviewer: Was that a special part of the barn or what? 461: Mm-hmm. Interviewer: What does your barn look like? 461: Uh you want me to draw it? Interviewer: No just just sorta tell me about. 461: Okay well now you had uh you had a big shed and cover like this out here. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: And under the underneath you had a room built off just like I got it out here now. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: You had four sides to it. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: You put corn in that see alright that's the crib. Okay uh now underneath it where you'd keep your live stock out of the weather well you got stalls. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: But the crib is that place that you kept your corn. Interviewer: Mm-hmm Where did you keep the hay? 461: In the loft L-O-F-T Interviewer: Mm-hmm Did you ever of um 461: Hay loft. Interviewer: Mm-hmm what if you didn't what if you had too much hay to to put up in the loft did did you ever leave it outside? Did you ever see a way of keeping it #1 outside? # 461: #2 Yeah # I've seen hay stack. Interviewer: Uh huh anything else? 461: No I my my here's my here's my pasture now but that's uh basically what we use is a hay stack. Interviewer: Mm-hmm what about um you know when you first cut the hay course now they they bale hay but it used to when when you first cut it and you let it dry and you'd rake it up in these little piles and then you know take a pitch fork and you know stack it or something. Did you have a name for those little piles that you'd rake up? 461: Uh I don't think so. Now here's something here that might be helpful. You're talking about somebody that was raised on a small farm and not on a big farm. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: Uh but what we did when we started talking about hay we had uh very little bit of what we call hay today. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: But now we used to plant corn. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: And then at the certain time after the corn's year had made I mean as much as it was going to make seeming we'd get out and pull that blade off that corn. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: Strip that stock. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: And then okay take it and then bundle it up in your arm and then take one of the blades and wrap around it and tie it. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: That's what we'd call fodder. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: And then we'd stack that uh and let it dry further dry and then take it and then go put it in the barn in certain places but uh basically speaking we uh cultivated more fodder than we did hay. Interviewer: Mm-hmm Um you mentioned that you you had um wha- wha- you mentioned the shed what what was the shed exactly? What did you keep in the shed? 461: Uh like wagons Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: plow tools Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: and uh and when I said a shed I'm talking about that area that is a cover for something. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: And underneath it you'd keep like wagons or plow tools and so on. Interviewer: Mm-hmm did you ever have a special place for keeping wood? 461: No we kept ours on the back porch is all we we talk about wood pile. Interviewer: Mm-hmm You never had wood house or wood shed or? What about um a place well now days where you'd turn your cows out to graze you'd call that a? 461: Uh all right now you see here again I'm telling you what I knew Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: and my experiences. Then we didn't have a pasture Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: we had open range. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: And uh the the few cows that we had we either had them in the field and what I'm talking about now we have you turned the cows in the field yet. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: That was in the area that we had cultivated. Interviewer: #1 Mm-hmm # 461: #2 See it was # the corn had been gathered Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: and then have you turned the cows in the field? Okay we put them in the field that's where we'd cultivate it but up to that time we had turned them in the woods. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: That was out on open range. Interviewer: Mm-hmm What if you wanted to um make a uh piece of land um real fertile did you you might fence it it in and put the cows in there. 461: That's right. Interviewer: What what was that called? 461: Manure. Interviewer: And what what was the um the fenced in place called? 461: Cow pen Now we now let me tell you what {X} We didn't do that now what we did we had what we call a cow pen. See these cows was in the open range and they were still uh gentle enough that when they come up they knew where they go. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: They went into this what we called a cow pen it was a a large area that was fenced off. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: But as far as to make the ground fertile it wasn't primarily for that it was just a place to contain these cattle. But then there'd be certain times that we would fence off a smaller portion of this and put a garden. You see what I mean? Interviewer: #1 Mm-hmm # 461: #2 Because # we knew it much fertile. Interviewer: What would you um say if you planted a big area maybe corn you'd call that a field but what if you had a smaller? 461: Patch Interviewer: A what what would grow in a patch now? 461: Peas Interviewer: A piece? 461: Peas. Interviewer: Peas 461: and uh say cotton. Now listen you talk to a smaller farmer here now. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: Okay now all right we had I don't even re-remember now how many acres was in. See my grandmother and my aunt and and and myself Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: well okay we we couldn't farm you see this but we had an uncle my uh mother's brother well he lived over on this same property. See I'm talking about a hundred and something acres I think. Well he lived over and he would farm this land Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: and my grandmother she was working and she would furnish the guano and the seed and so on and he would fur- he would do all the plowing and then he would give her uh meal and and uh meat when the hogs was killed. So he was actually providing food in a way for two families his and ours there for a time see? Interviewer: You say she would furnish the what? 461: The we called it guano then we didn't call it fertilizer. Interviewer: U- 461: Guano G- G-U-A-N-O? Guano. Interviewer: Never heard that word. 461: Yeah that's uh just like today. You buy fertilizer in the bag. They used to call it guano and it was on the bag. G- G-U-A-N-O. I I bets it's in uh encyclopedia now. It was a commercial fertilizer. Interviewer: Uh huh What did you call the sacks that it would come in? 461: The sack that it'd come in? Interviewer: Uh huh 461: Guano sack. And that's what they'd make shirts out of along then. They had it was out of cloth. Interviewer: Uh huh 461: And yeah you might of heard this uh this old farm boy says uh what size shirt you wearing? He says I don't know. I think it's {D: fourteen sacks} {NW} But along then the sacks would have it was uh made out of cloth. Interviewer: Uh huh 461: And uh it was guano. Interviewer: Was that that rough? 461: Now listen I've got a I've got uh uh plow here I want to go out in a minute and just show you some of these things. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: It's what we call a guano knocker. You'd put this uh guano in a hopper and it would you know beep-p-p-p-p- Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: Well they call it guano eh uh fertilizer strip just now as a modern word. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: Uh fertilizer strip it with the strip uh gua- uh fertilizer. Well then it was guano. Interviewer: Mm-hmm what was this that rough cloth now? That rough brown cloth? 461: No that's burlap or either uh wait I didn't we didn't call it burlap we called it corn sack. Interviewer: Uh huh 461: Now we always called that a corn sack but it's a burlap bag now. Interviewer: Uh huh what about croa- 461: Croaker sack? yeah but now listen uh I didn't know I I've heard that word but I don't think I heard it back in my younger days. I knew it as a corn sack. Interviewer: #1 Uh-huh. # 461: #2 And I don't know # how it got its word really corn because there's a number of things that could be in these particular sacks. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: At that time but I knew it and when they said a corn sack I knew what to go pick up. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: Now then if you tell me to go get a croaker sack, a burlap bag, or corn sack well really corn sack now uh right now speaking about if I told my boy to go get a corn sack they might go get it but I I believe if I told them to go get a croaker or burlap bag they would go pick up a corn sack. Interviewer: But this gu- guano 461: Guano? Interviewer: sack was was something different it was 461: Yeah it was different. It was uh {NS} it was a smoother cloth. Interviewer: Uh huh 461: And still it didn't have a finished like uh you you know what I'm talking I don't what I'm talking about but anyways it was uh Interviewer: What color was it? 461: Um white. Interviewer: Uh huh 461: and it spelt guano and then it had the uh analysis on the back four percent {D: five} and ten Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: and so on just like the uh paper bags that's got the date Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: but it was out of a cloth bag. Interviewer: What did flour used to come in? #1 If you didn't # 461: #2 Uh it'd # come in uh uh same uh it would come in a uh cloth sack too. But it was smoother material than this guano. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: Now those flour sacks was a real uh fine material I mean as a piece of cloth is concerned. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: And then they were different designs or they'd make pillow cases out of or either some people make dresses or shirts Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: out of sacks. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: Feed sacks were the same way. Interviewer: #1 Feed? # 461: #2 Cow feed # Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: when you bought it. Interviewer: Um you said you had you had hogs um where did you keep them if you wanted to if you did have a fenced in place? 461: That was a hog pen. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: It wasn't no question about that hog pen And then we had what they call a hog trough. That's where they'd eat. Interviewer: Uh huh 461: T- R-O-U-G-H Interviewer: Say if you were talking about several of those you'd say you had several? 461: Head of hogs. Interviewer: Or several hog to feed them in you'd say you had three or four 461: Hog troughs Interviewer: Okay and um a place now a days where where you'd um they have a a farm where they'd have a lot of milk cows and they'd sell the the cow they'd sell the milk and and butter. You'd call that farm a? 461: Call that farm. Interviewer: Well what what would you call the big sort of commercial um milk farm? #1 You'd call that a? # 461: #2 Dairy # Interviewer: #1 # 461: #2 # Interviewer: Okay did and where did you used to keep milk and butter before you had refrigerators? 461: Uh we'd keep it again in the safe. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: That's the only thing that we had to keep food in we didn't have no refrigerator. Uh no deep freezers. No now the only way that we had ice teller would come buy on the ice truck Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: and we'd take it and sometimes if we had a box and then we'd take these burlap bags or corn sacks that I was talking about cover these blocks of ice up Interviewer: #1 Mm-hmm # 461: #2 to preserve it # keep it from melting. And then another thing that we did we'd dig a hole in this smokehouse Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: dig a hole and build a box and put that ice in that and cover it. Then you'd go out and chip it off and wash it off when we're gonna use it. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: Uh but as far as milk we didn't have any butter. The only butter we'd had that we'd buy it at the store. And we'd use it uh {X} so fast that we wouldn't have any problem with it. This is just like milk. Now the cows that we had we had what we'd call the Piney woods cows. Interviewer: Piney woods cows? 461: Yeah It's not uh like a Holstein or Guernsey now this is your milk type cows. See we didn't have this purebred stuff. And we had what we'd call the Piney woods that was cows that would graze out in the piney woods you see. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: Just run at large out there I mean really uh made their uh got all their food out in the woods. We didn't feed these cows in the winter. They had to survive in the woods on their own. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: Or maybe they'd get a little bit when they'd come and milk them we'd have one that would have a calf you see then we'd feed her a little bit of the milk but we wasn't getting much milk and we didn't have to worry too much about preserving the milk you see? Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: They didn't per- produce gallons of milk just very little bit of milk and we was able to use it without Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: just um {X} we'd get just very little just enough for a meal or two. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. Where did you keep um potatoes and turnips in the winter? 461: In the garden now I don't know when when youse talking about turnips we would go get them right out of the garden and use them. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: Now potatoes see we'd dig them and spread them in a dry place that would either be we could uh put them on a paper a flat area in the smokehouse Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: where it'll be dry. Lot of times we'd keep them under the house. Interviewer: Mm-hmm Did you ever hear of a a dairy it's being anything besides its um commercial farm? 461: No no uh I don't think so because I had no association with a dairy when I was coming up. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: There was none in the area and I knew very little bit about the dairy. Interviewer: Mm-hmm What about um a fenced in place around the barn where the animals could walk around? 461: Lot. Interviewer: Mm-kay and um tell me about raising cotton um when you get out there and you you thin the cotton out you call that? 461: Chopping cotton Interviewer: And uh what do you call the kind of grass that grows up in the cotton field? 461: Well we had uh we had weeds and uh we'd call it and then we had a number uh different kind of of weeds. I don't know what you talking about we had a what we call a coffeeweed and we had a what we called crabgrass and uh Bermuda grass and stuff this way. The weeds that grew up in it I I don't know about that. We had a like I said different types of weeds Interviewer: #1 Mm-hmm # 461: #2 and # grass that we had to control. Now we didn't uh farm the big way on this cotton either very small patch. This is what I was talking about awhile ago when we said that a small area was a patch. If uh now for like corn we had a number of acres of corn planted but if you wanted to get out here and plant just two or three acres of cotton or either just a smaller uh plot of peas you know field peas that we eat. Uh this was a patch. Interviewer: #1 Mm-hmm # 461: #2 And # then there was another place that we called a garden. This was not a patch it was a garden. But if you had just one thing planted here in a small area well that was a patch of peas. Interviewer: Mm-hmm A garden you had several things #1 planted? # 461: #2 That's right # Interviewer: #1 # 461: #2 # Interviewer: What um different types of fences did people used to have? 461: Fences? Interviewer: Uh huh 461: They had rail. Interviewer: Were there different kinds of rail fences? 461: No as far as I I knew it was just a what we called a split rail. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: I mean it was a split rail fence. And they would have what we called a picket fence. Interviewer: Mm-hmm #1 What did # 461: #2 You'd heard of that? # Interviewer: What did that look like?