811: {D: It's seasoning, or grease} Yeah, um. Interviewer: {D: I got some food there out in the car. I thought} {X} {D: I want to try a little bit of this slaw} {X} 811: Rice and uh {X} Interviewer: Yeah you mind if I try some over here? 811: Um, no go ahead and help yourself. You might not have another left if it's pretty good. Interviewer: That is good stuff. You like it? 811: Uh yeah, I wouldn't {D: go out of bed, but I can} Now that's made out of pork. Interviewer: Mm-hmm {NW} 811: And I can't have no pork. Interviewer: Pretty good. {X} {X} How you been doing? 811: Oh pretty good. Interviewer: So Did you- did y'all go to church yesterday or did you go to that business your boss was having? 811: Uh, no my wife had just wanted to clean {D: because we're having a} a party next Saturday night. And they had got something else the other night and they wanted to have it cleaned for 'em. Interviewer: Yeah. Did y'all have things like that when you were kids? In other words, people get together and you know people move around the floor, anything like that? 811: Yeah you had uh dances and {NW} Stuff like that. Interviewer: Yeah. Uh. 811: Put mustard on it and tenderize it. Interviewer: Yeah. Now you used to raise chickens, didn't you? 811: Yeah. Interviewer: Okay, the place where you kept your chickens 811: Oh you would call that a chicken house. Interviewer: Okay. You have a place for the little ones? 811: Uh yeah you'd probably call it uh {D: the brooder} It was uh you had but it was closed in. You had a top part that was closed in and then you had uh part of it that was screened. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 811: Where you could go out to catch air. Interviewer: {NW} Um now Okay the that was just a what? Kind of a place that just had wire around it would be just a little 811: Uh little chicken uh uh pen. Interviewer: Um. Now when you killed a chicken what was the piece that the children liked to have? 811: Uh well the wishbone. {NW} {X} And they'd pull on it, the one that gets the short end, I believe, had won and the one that get the long end had lost. {NW} Interviewer: Was there any rules behind who got the better one? {C: coughing} 811: Uh I don't I don't remember It's been Interviewer: It's pretty good stuff but it's not 811: {X} Interviewer: Well that's okay. It's yeah it's pretty hot. Um Now the inside parts of the chicken that you didn't 811: Uh the only thing that you wouldn't eat was like the gizzard, Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 811: Uh the heart, and the liver. {D: And the rest of it} Interviewer: You called them the chicken 811: Uh well you'd call it the the the gizzard. Interviewer: Yeah. 811: The heart and the liver. Interviewer: Did you ever make anything out of that? Just scramble 'em all up and 811: {D: Uh rice dressing} You uh you you use gizzards and uh and uh heart and the liver to make rice dressing. Interviewer: Um okay. The inside parts of a of a calf or a pig that you would eat 811: But uh The calf you would eat the heart. You had uh what do you call it the {D: the debris} And that was your {NW} heart and liver. Uh and uh Interviewer: {D: do you know what the hasbits were? or uh} You ever eat liver and uh liver and the lungs? 811: #1 Yeah # Interviewer: #2 {D: You call it liver lights or?} # 811: Well lights, yeah, you have lights. Uh I just uh usually do it just uh you'd take a calf or something get it killed at the slaughterhouse, they ask if you want the debris. And obviously I don't rightly remember what all of it was but they'd have you know so much you can use and uh Interviewer: Look the inside parts of the chicken that you would eat was uh well what about the kind you would stuff sausage in? 811: Uh the uh the guts and stuff? Interviewer: Yeah. 811: Right um what the Interviewer: In the in the pig or the 811: Yeah, the pig you'd use uh that to make sauce and then uh {X} You'd use the the entrails. Interviewer: Did you ever cook them themselves? Just cook the intestines? 811: Yeah. Interviewer: Make what? 811: Uh you'd just make um you could boil 'em and pour vinegar with 'em. Interviewer: Yeah. 811: And even though you'd boil 'em, you could put them down {NW} {X} Interviewer: Pretty good but tastes a little grease um 811: Greasy. Interviewer: Um Did you ever have {D: chip oh} Well you know 811: Uh the ch- uh they call it uh What it was, chitterling? Interviewer: Yeah, do you? 811: Yeah. {NW} {X} Interviewer: Nah, well I-I've never had chitterlings, but I hear they're good. You know how how they were prepared uh. {NW} Excuse me. 811: You want some water? Interviewer: No, no I'm fine. Um Now What did you- when you were milking your cows how did you call in the pasture, what did you call? 811: Yeah usually uh {X} Back of the pasture somebody could just holler {D: chuck the hog, chuck the hog and then} {C: imitating call} Interviewer: Or or you know coi! where I'm from. So y'all would say what? 811: #1 Uh # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 811: Yeah. {X} {D: If you had a nana she would} or ninety-five percent of the time she would come running. {D: The only way you had to almost go get one and milk them like there for} If you had to wean the calf, you'd still milk her. Cause she wasn't gonna come up if she didn't have a a calf and then if you wasn't feeding her Interviewer: She'd sit back down in the pasture and 811: Yeah {C: imitates mooing} Interviewer: Start to what? 811: Start to {X} Interviewer: When you're feeding the cow what kind of noise will she make? She'll start 811: {C: imitates mooing} {NW} She'll uh- you'll get out a little uh Interviewer: When when you were when you were milking a cow what did you say to her to get her to stand still? 811: You'd tell her {D: La porteau} El- Interviewer: {D: porteau?} 811: Yeah And what that- that- that was a French word I never did know what it was Um Interviewer: Okay. When you call the calf what do you say to it? 811: Uh You call it the same way you call a cow. Uh. Interviewer: Okay. Your horses and your mules? When you're getting them into the pasture? 811: Well you usually whistle at 'em. Uh they usually come. If you had 'em trained but if you wouldn't train 'em {X} If you're just wasting time calling 'em if you had a well trained where you could whistle at 'em they would come. Interviewer: What was the way to train 'em? I mean did you have a certain way you'd train 'em? 811: Not necessarily. If you would uh {NW} {D: The key to anything is if you get it and you started a habit} {X} To eat us up. You put 'em a little hay, a little corn, whatever. You was feeding. And at that time {D: It's a funny thing if you feed 'em} at four o'clock every day that's what time he was going to come over to eat. He ain't gonna hardly come hang around from two thirty to four and he'd come up at four. And uh you'd feed him at four and he get through, he go. Interviewer: Okay. Now when you got on a horse you'd say to him 811: Get up. {D: If you wanted them to start you'd throw them wool} Interviewer: Okay. What What if you really wanted him to take off you know? When you're riding him? You ever had any races? 811: Yeah. Quite a few. The last one that I had I promised to never race again. Interviewer: Why? 811: {NW} I fell off. {X} Hit myself in the back Interviewer: {NW} 811: back of the head and uh I messed up some uh discs in my back. I had to have a leg drew up on my Day bef- uh the one before I went to the doctor then he put me in the hospital. Interviewer: Leg drew up on you, what do you mean? 811: Well Well back when uh it's all bent Interviewer: Yeah 811: And thought I was limp you know when I got to the doctor he told me to draw it up almost a quarter of an inch. Interviewer: You mean the leg is shorter? 811: Yeah. They start- that's right. When he gave me some medicine for it he told me to try it for two days. If it didn't work, he'd have to go put me in a contraption in the hospital. But fortunately it worked and I didn't have to go. Interviewer: {NW} Um Now to call your pigs in when you're feeding them 811: Uh yeah {D: too-lee too-lee} {NW} Interviewer: Uh and sheep? You said you had sheep too. 811: Uh well we didn't have none but uh I knew some people that had some sheeps and goats. Interviewer: Yeah. 811: We didn't uh raise any. Interviewer: Um. Hmm. And uh now if you'd been traveling well back in the old days if you had to go from here to uh say to rain, that was uh you you that was a uh far 811: That was a far trip you uh you kn- you had a horse and it'd take you somewhere. Two hours or three hours they'd go on a horse. Interviewer: Um If um if you'd been traveling and you hadn't finished your journey you might say that you had a? You still had a long? 811: Still had a long way to go. Interviewer: Before you got to Rain. Um now if something was uh a very common thing around here and you could find it just about anywhere, say somebody wanted it. I mean well something was very common and uh you didn't have to look for it in a special place say if somebody wanted cypress trees they could find it just about 811: Uh I could find one of those anywhere Interviewer: Yeah and 811: Around- around in the woods and Interviewer: Yeah um when you were uh okay now when you were riding horses and a horse would say a horse would get up on you you might fall 811: fall off Interviewer: Which way? 811: Uh if he had reared up you'd both gotten you would fall back. Interviewer: #1 Yeah # 811: #2 And uh # {NW} If you were riding him and if something scared him let's say uh if they had a piece of paper or something in that ditch, and it spooked him if uh he would jump from one side to the other and if you wasn't expecting, he would fall off on the side. Interviewer: Yeah. And if he was stopping you'd fall which way? 811: Well he'd fall to the front if you had stop uh Interviewer: Okay. Okay now if you were, say you were walking on ice right here on a pond, if you slipped and fell you'd say I fell 811: Fell back. Interviewer: Uh Okay Now {D: When you were plowing with mules did you ever have any you know have any of 'em cut up on you when you} 811: Yeah. Well had one of 'em, never forget it, five o'clock in the afternoon I say about five, yeah around five, five thirty {X} They're going home And one hit you cause whatever you had on She was coming home and breaking a hold of 'em Interviewer: Sometimes you'd hitch 'em up and they'd go they wouldn't 811: Uh they'd go back, they'd want to balk on you. Balk meaning they don't want to go front they want to stay there. And usually you could break 'em from that It'd take time, but you could break 'em. Interviewer: They'd wanna go back? 811: {X} All they want to do is rile up and jump up and down. Interviewer: Yeah. Um. Now the trenches cut by the plow was called the what 811: That was the middle. Interviewer: Yeah the middle of the fir- 811: The uh the f- the four the- the rule Interviewer: Yeah Cut two of those you'd be two? 811: Yeah two fours. Interviewer: Okay. Um well when you you say y'all would cut hay sometimes. Um Kind of would you get a second Like you'd get a first cut and then you'd 811: Yeah you could get a second cut. Interviewer: Okay. Um. And you'd call that the well when you came out in the spring and say all that rice straw was left in the field they'd say did you ever have to do anything with that with all of that 811: That rice straw? Yeah They'd usually pick it up and uh well you had haystacks in them time- you didn't uh- the rice straw wasn't left in the field. Interviewer: I see. 811: Course you had to {NW} bring your rice out to what they'd call a thrasher. And they uh had a big old pipe over there. Interviewer: Yeah. 811: And you would hook a tractor on it and it would blow it the straw out a big old tremendous pile and you would call that a haystack. And what you'd do if your stack was big enough uh you'd just take it and move it elsewhere and make the other one. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. Um. Something would come up would you ever have crops like when you planted potatoes they might come up the next year they'd come up uh 811: Uh It was very certain you'd have something to come up the next year. Because if you had a bad winter you had to plot uh {D: and do something- entertain- let the cattle eat it} whatever they had left and it's very soon you had any And it left, but you could see beyond the seeds and stuff. Interviewer: What about the stuff you would raise in the patch say behind your house? 811: Uh. Interviewer: Would you ever have anything else come up? Say in the patch that you grew things 811: Yeah you uh uh you had grass and different kinds of stuff. Interviewer: Oh yeah I mean I'm talking about the stuff that you raised, cultivated you know 811: Oh. Interviewer: Y'all have a did you raise your own home grown 811: Yeah fruits and stuff you know uh vegetables, all that Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 811: #1 I don't know # Interviewer: #2 Would you have a # 811: {D: A garden or a plot that} Interviewer: You know Did uh Now like something would you ever get any kind of little you know things that would come up there like you'd plant 'em one year and then the next year they'd come up? 811: Oh very few if it was uh something that would seed, maybe onions or parsley, parsley mostly. {X} come up and actually Interviewer: You say they came up? 811: Yeah uh Interviewer: Vol- 811: Volunteer Interviewer: Volunteer? 811: Yeah. Interviewer: Um Like a what else? what about those little red vegetables that would come up? 811: Um Well, the only thing red was a {NW} something that we would reseed. If you had uh something like a turnip or something like that well, it uh ver- very very soon you'd get one that would come up the next year. Interviewer: Okay. Anything that would come on a vine? 811: Um {D: Yeah you had snap beans, butter beans} and stuff like that would come up uh. You would have the pole ones where you had to pole 'em and uh get some poles and a stick and they would go up the pole. Interviewer: Mm-kay. And they were called some kinda wanderer? 811: Uh that was uh {D: well you had butter- butter beans and uh} what the heck was that? The vine butter beans or snap beans, whatever {NW} You could buy the ones you wanted. If you wanted the pole ones {X} Interviewer: What about the real long ones? 811: Uh the flat beans? Interviewer: Yeah 811: Uh Interviewer: The snap beans you just ate them pod and all, right? You didn't have to 811: Well they- they snap 'em Big beans often break 'em or depending how long they was yeah. Interviewer: Yeah. 811: You'll break 'em in half. Interviewer: Okay. Was that a name for all sorts of green beans? You were talking about snap beans? 811: Yeah yes snap beans, butter beans, sweet peas. We had different names for 'em. Interviewer: Did you ever- now talking about butter beans, what different types of them did you have? 811: {NW} Interviewer: Did you have big yellow ones? You know? 811: Yeah you had uh they had about two or three different kinds you could get. You had the butter uh uh shoot I just remembered their name well I know you could buy about two or three kinds. Interviewer: Um. Okay. Did you ever get Limas? 811: Yeah we had Lima beans and uh Well we had a tremendous bunch of beans {X} Interviewer: #1 {X} # 811: #2 And uh # Interviewer: Okay. 811: Black eyed peas. Interviewer: Yeah. 811: {NW} Interviewer: Um. Well uh now the kind of now I want to ask you about the things you made and you cooked and all sorts of things like that. What was made of flour and baked in loaves? 811: Uh that was uh light bread, you know biscuits. Interviewer: Okay. Would you ever make it to rise? 811: Yeah uh your light bread you had to you'd use yeast and uh what we'd usually do is uh you'd save a piece of it {NW} and just let it rise and you just add on dough- you wouldn't have to buy yeast every time you wanted to make some. Interviewer: I see. 811: And your biscuits you would put baking powder, baking soda in them and they would rise. Interviewer: Okay. 811: Cause in the time that you was cooking it. Interviewer: Most of the bread you'd there was a difference between the bread you made at home and the kind you bought at the store. 811: #1 Yeah. # Interviewer: #2 It was called # 811: It was homemade and uh bought bread. Interviewer: Bought bread? 811: That was what we would call it. Interviewer: Yeah yeah you can get like that ball of bread. 811: No {D: you let you get was so stale} you'd better off just Interviewer: {NW} 811: If you had a {NW} {X} Uh {X} He'd have all kinds of stuff uh uh Interviewer: Yeah 811: Uh {X} and I don't know where he'd get his bread but I mean he got that it was so hard you didn't want it. You was better off making your own. Interviewer: {NW} {NW} Can you name me all the kinds of things you'd make with dough? Wheat flour dough? 811: Uh you'd make uh cornbread with cornmeal. Interviewer: Okay but now talking about wheat flour dough. Would your mother ever just take it and make it up into you know take a biscuit dough and make it up into a loaf? 811: Uh yeah she made uh bread loaf with that. Interviewer: And that was- 811: Cakes and pies and Interviewer: Okay. What would she call that bread she would make with biscuit dough? 811: Uh I forgot uh well I remember it had a long pan but I don't remember Interviewer: Okay you ever have hoecake? 811: Yeah Uh Interviewer: What was that then? 811: Pancakes and uh Interviewer: Hoecakes 811: Well pancakes and hoecakes are about the same. Interviewer: Oh they are? {NW} 811: Yeah uh Interviewer: What did a hoecake look like? How was it shaped? Was it 811: Oh well you didn't have no special shape. All you did was take the dough and put it after you mixed it up you'd put it in the skillet, it'll come out. Some of 'em was round and some of 'em was Interviewer: Oh oh I see. Did you cook it in grease or? 811: Yeah. A little grease and uh stick it in the top of the stove and well you add heat. Interviewer: Mm-kay. Anything else you would bake maybe from wheat flour? Bake cakes 811: Yeah, pies Interviewer: Make an apple what? Apple- 811: Apple pie, blackberry pie Interviewer: Okay. 811: Pineapple, peach Interviewer: Would you make would she ever make uh say a pie that didn't have a crust on the bottom or something like that? Call that an apple what? 811: Apple turnover. {NW} No, she not {NW} Uh Mostly she was making stuff like blackberry pie, peach pie. Stuff that we had a good bit of you know. Interviewer: Would she ever cook something you know in a real deep dish? And uh and just say had crust on the top? She might put meat in there or something else. 811: No not that I remember. Interviewer: Okay. Did you ever hear- did she ever put would she ever like put potatoes in the bread 811: #1 Yeah # Interviewer: #2 Or- or some mix # 811: Make a sweet potato bread. Interviewer: Yeah? Okay. How'd she make that? She whip it up or? 811: Uh Your potatoes you had to mash 'em up and uh then you'd take your- make your dough. Put it in the bottom of your- your your uh your pan. Then you'd take the sweet potatoes and put 'em in the middle and you'd take your dough and you'd put it over the top. Interviewer: #1 Yeah sounds good. # 811: #2 Then you # You'd bake it. Interviewer: Okay. Now you mentioned cornmeal. Uh. What else? 811: Uh you could make cornbread kush Uh Interviewer: Okay. From cornbread you'd make okay any type of cornbread? Would you just would you ever make cornbread did- did you have more than one kind? 811: Uh you could no you had uh you could make cornbread dressing uh with meat and uh you know mixed up with cornbread and uh Interviewer: Yeah. 811: Then you could make your kush. Interviewer: Okay. 811: That was about all the dishes you do with cornmeal. Interviewer: Well when you made cornmeal up into uh and cooked it in a skillet that was called what? 811: Cornbread. Interviewer: Yeah that was a what cornbread? 811: Uh. Interviewer: You know what a cone was? {NW} Did you ever hear folks making uh making uh cornmeal and just salt and water? Hot water? Had to cook it up with hot water? Hot water bread or? Okay. Did your mother ever cook, would she ever cook it in the fireplace? 811: Yeah. Interviewer: Alright. How would she do that? 811: Uh Well you had a little old uh stand would take uh over your your {D: like your back low whatever you had in it} You had a big skillet with a top on it. And you'd just take it and put it, set it on the well kind of like on top of the fire. Interviewer: Did you ever see 'em cook it in the fire? 811: No. Interviewer: Okay. Or on a say on a board in front of the fire? 811: Uh You had uh what you would call uh some fire horses. And you had some boards that would go across 'em. Interviewer: Yeah? 811: {D: Couple of three bars and you could set your} your pot on that which your cornbread was in. And you had to watch it when the bottom was cooked you had to take it and turn it over. And put the top to the bottom. Cause the top wouldn't cook. Whenever the bottom would get cooked, you'd just take it and take your plate, take your skillet and turn it upside down and slide it off. Interviewer: Okay. Um {NW} Well when you when you eat fish You ever eat fish? Sure you- 811: Yeah. Interviewer: Uh can you eat it now? 811: Uh yeah. Interviewer: In a- cooked in the right way huh? 811: Uh yeah I just uh One of the things that was so good fried- I made a I had a little piece of goldfish that was fried. And uh it don't bother me to eat it now but I used to love fish. I loved to cook it too. Interviewer: You when you were younger you 811: I would Interviewer: You ate 811: Yeah I ate quite a bit of it. Interviewer: Yeah. Um Now what do you like? What kind of cornmeal do you like with fish? 811: Oh, I like my fish fried in cornmeal. Interviewer: Oh. 811: Uh roll it in that if I'm gonna fish, I wanna fry it in cornmeal. Interviewer: Okay. Did you ever uh say make these kind of round things in cornmeal and they would they would put you'd put onions or pepper in it? And uh they were round and you fry 'em in grease and eat 'em with fish? 811: Um no I- Interviewer: You know what a hush puppy was? 811: Uh uh-huh. {NW} {D: Might've been too fast for me to pick that up} Interviewer: Yes um. Okay now you mentioned cornmeal dressing like when your mother was cooking say greens, would she ever dunk cornmeal batter in there? 811: No. Ju- just make it and we'll uh cook the greens in one pot and uh cornmeal in the other one. Interviewer: Yeah. What'd she put in greens when she was cooking 'em? 811: Or if you had a piece of, what they call uh, a piece of fat and bacon. Smoked bacon. It's uh Interviewer: Yeah. Uh Was that- did that have a lot of lean on it or? 811: No, it mostly was fat cause uh your lean uh if you have to have a grease hog mostly you'd kill a grease hog because you wanted your grease and uh {X} stuff like that. It was very seldom they would kill a hog just for meat. It was mostly for grease. Interviewer: Uh. Okay. Did you ever put any part of the grease when you rendered up the hog- you know what I mean by rendering it and getting the cracklings out of it? Would you ever put that in on the cornbread? 811: Uh no. Interviewer: Make cracklings? {D: in bread?} {C: coughing} 811: Uh you mean some of the grease? Interviewer: Yeah what would you eat with the cracklings? 811: Or sweet potatoes or cornbread. Interviewer: Okay. Um now something that would be fried in deep fat and it would have a hole in the center of it what was that? 811: Uh Interviewer: They were fried in deep fat, you know? Had a hole in the middle of 'em boy they were good. They'd be made out of bis- dough, flour dough 811: Oh donuts? Uh we didn't make too many of that. That's a uh we grew up some uh I ate quite a few. After we got older for doing the you know teenagers then we didn't uh {NW} we didn't have any. Interviewer: You folks have another name for them or different types of 'em? 811: No they- Interviewer: What about a French name for that? 811: {D: I knowed it} Interviewer: {D: Okay you know what a croissant was?} 811: Mm-mm. Interviewer: Alright. Um when they made uh- okay. Now something that you would make a batter of you'd call them what? And you'd have them in the morning like- 811: #1 Now that's a # Interviewer: #2 {X} # 811: Barley cakes or um Interviewer: Okay. 811: or flapjacks, whatever. Interviewer: Yeah did you have any would they always be made out of wheat flour? Or did you ever make any out of cornmeal? 811: Uh little bit, you could make something, what they call a croquette. Uh that cornmeal. Interviewer: Okay. And that was a what? 811: Uh all I've done with the croquettes is you take it and mix up your cornmeal and gotten it fried. You know, I put it in a little grease and- Interviewer: Yeah. You'd eat that with 811: Oh you could eat it with milk or Interviewer: It was kind of crumbly 811: #1 Yeah # Interviewer: #2 if you had cornmeal in it. # You put anything else in? 811: No. Uh you'd have eggs or bacon or whatever you had. Interviewer: {NS} Yeah. Did you ever make fritters? 811: Uh do you- uh what fritters? Interviewer: Fritters are you know- okay. Uh now talking about eggs, the two parts of the egg, there's the what and there's the 811: Then the white and the yellow. Interviewer: Okay. Um Did you now how do you eat your eggs when you have 'em cooked? 811: Um. Interviewer: Can you eat 'em? 811: No I don't. I used to love the scrambled ones but now for the last couple of three months I well I what I would do when I was in the hospital they would cook 'em but they would cook 'em some kind of way in water I don't know how they would cook 'em Interviewer: Oh. 811: Cause they couldn't cook 'em in grease. Interviewer: They'd cook- would they let 'em 811: Uh poached I guess and I didn't like 'em like that so after I came home I didn't bother with that. Interviewer: Uh. Now when you killed a hog when you cut him up you cut the side of the hog, what do you call it? 811: Uh you uh cut it in quarters. Your h- that's your hind quarter. You uh your front quarter your backbone Interviewer: Okay. 811: And a slab of ribs. You see that's your hind quarter, your front quarter, then you cut your slab of ribs out of the middle. Interviewer: Yeah. The meat between the shoulders and the ham was 811: Uh that would be uh you- your uh front quarter. Interviewer: Yeah. You know what a middling was? 811: Uh no. Interviewer: Okay. Um the kind of meat that you might buy and slice up thin to eat with your eggs 811: It would be bacon. Interviewer: Yeah you'd have to get the what off that bacon, kind of the outer edge? You'd call that the 811: Uh you might get uh some of the lean off it. Interviewer: But in this 811: Only I {NW} you'd have to get the skin off it. The- I thought of the skin. Interviewer: Uh you buy any meat that you might slice up yourself and eat with your eggs? What's that? 811: Ham. Interviewer: Uh okay. Now If- if the meat is kept- has been kept too long, you say it's done what, it's gotten? 811: Gotten rancid. {X} Interviewer: Uh when you butchered uh a hog you'd say what you'd make from its head was what? 811: You'd make bullseye hog head cheese. Interviewer: Okay. And did you ever you never prepared a dish by cooking and grinding up the hog liver? 811: Uh usually you uh your hog liver, when its dried up you'd make {D: bulldown with it} put the hog liver {D: and that'll make bulldown} Interviewer: Okay. Uh. Would you ever take the juice of the head cheese? Or the liver sausage? And maybe stir it up with cornmeal? You ever hear of people doing that? 811: Yeah I heard about I- I've seen the fried hog brains. Rolled 'em in cornmeal. Interviewer: Hog what? 811: Brains. The brains that come- {NW} They'd roll it in cornmeal and fry it. Interviewer: Okay. Now suppose you kept your butter too long and it didn't taste good 811: Well it would get rancid. Interviewer: Okay. How would you say it it tasted or how would you describe the smell of it? You'd say smelled 811: It would smell rancid. Interviewer: Okay. Would you ever hear okay now talking about somebody if they hadn't taken a bath in a while would you say the same thing about them? 811: {NW} Interviewer: You'd say they smelled 811: Well oh rancid oh Interviewer: #1 Some # 811: #2 {NW} # {NW} Interviewer: Somebody has told me that if somebody hadn't taken a bath in a while they said they would smell funky 811: Yeah {C: laughing} Interviewer: Okay what does that mean? 811: Why that'd mean they smelled bad. Interviewer: Okay. When you said somebody smelled 811: funky Interviewer: #1 Okay. # 811: #2 {NW} # Interviewer: Uh what talking- would you ever say anything was stout or was um something smelled stout or it got stout? Do you know what that means? 811: Mm no. Interviewer: Okay. Um now you kept uh when you kept your milk around it would do what? 811: It would sour and {D: clabber} Interviewer: Okay did you ever make anything from that? Any- 811: Uh you could make uh whipped cream from uh clabber Interviewer: Okay. 811: Your milk would sour and turn to clabber, and then you could make whipped cream with it. Interviewer: They make any sort of cheese other than that? 811: Um yeah it was uh well that- whipped cream was a cheese um oh shoot I forgot the name of the cheese. We would call it whipped cream. It was cottage cheese. {NW} And that's what it was, cottage cheese. Interviewer: Yeah. Joe, when you milked what was the first thing you had to do after you milked? 811: You'd go strain the milk Interviewer: Okay. Um now somebody like yourself they'd say you can sure put away the 811: The meal. Interviewer: And looks like he can eat his 811: His share of meal or Interviewer: Okay or all the food #1 you know # 811: #2 yeah # Interviewer: you like if you enjoy eating a lot they'd say you can eat a lot of, put away the 811: Uh he can put away a whole lot of food. Interviewer: Okay. Um now when your wife is making a pie what- would she pour some kind of sweet thing over it? It might be milk, cream, mixed? Would she ever add nutmeg or something like that? 811: #1 Yeah uh # Interviewer: #2 That'd be called a # 811: Cake mix. Interviewer: Okay. You, now you pretty- what's your diet now? Do you eat pretty regularly? 811: Uh yeah I can eat anytime I get ready. Um but in between meals I'd eat a banana or maybe an orange. Interviewer: Just for a 811: Just for a little afternoon or morning snack. Interviewer: Uh now what do you have for breakfast? 811: Well I usually eat cornflakes with milk for breakfast. Interviewer: Do you have anything to- to drink? 811: Well I dr- in between meals I drink juice. Um grapefruit juice, orange juice. Pineapple juice. Interviewer: Okay. Did you ever drink any- what would you have when you were younger? You got up and you 811: Uh just mostly we had was water or milk. Interviewer: You just drank that? 811: I drank a water either I drank a milk cause we didn't have no kind of juice. Interviewer: It would be in a what? In a 811: In a jar or pitcher, whatever Interviewer: Poured into a? 811: A cup. We didn't have too many glasses yet. {NW} We had ten cups. Interviewer: Okay. Um. What would have to drink at the at the say at the pump or something like that and you had a what 811: Uh we usually drank uh straight from the pump or either we had uh a glass out there w- w- Interviewer: Um did you ever what I was getting around to, did you ever make any- have anything else for breakfast uh when you get up and drink a cup of 811: Uh Oh you mean uh old time we Interviewer: Yeah. What do most of folks have around here for breakfast? 811: Uh in the- during them times? You know way back? Oh they had cornbread and milk. Interviewer: What would they drink? 811: Uh they would drink milk. Interviewer: Okay. They ever drink anything that they would {D: poach} and cook? 811: Oh they would have uh chocolate Interviewer: Okay, coffee? 811: Yeah. The older people would drink uh coffee because they'd uh buy their coffee green and they would poach it. And grind it. That's it Interviewer: Okay. {C: coughing} How do you make the coffee? 811: Well what you do you get the green coffee, #1 use a, use a pot, # Interviewer: #2 You poach it? # 811: you'd poach it. And let it cool off then you had a coffee grinder you'll take it, and you'll grind it up and then you had uh what you call a homemade {D: grag I guess} with a little sack on it. You'd take your coffee you put it in the little sack and you get you some boiling water pour it over it. Interviewer: Okay. Now how do you- talking about put milk in coffee, some people like it 811: Uh like chocolate uh coffee, milk, or a little coffee in their milk or cream Interviewer: Some people like it like coffee 811: Coffee milk Interviewer: Okay, others like their coffee 811: Uh straight black. Interviewer: Okay. Uh okay you might say somebody asked you how- what would you take- I mean what will you have and I'll say I take my coffee 811: Uh Interviewer: I don't want any 811: You take your coffee black. Interviewer: I want it 811: No cream or without sugar. Interviewer: Okay. Without anything right now uh. Do you if you well uh if you ask me how much did you drink you might say Uh I might say I Well if I ask you how much you drink what do you say- what do you? 811: Uh you mean liquor or? Interviewer: Well 811: {NW} Interviewer: Coffee. 811: Huh oh about eight, ten cups a day. Interviewer: Yeah. That's how much you 811: Yeah coffee I drink a day. Interviewer: Okay but you don't anymore? 811: No I don't. Interviewer: But you, you surely 811: Uh well I- I used to when I would drink it, I would drink about ten, twelve cups a day. Interviewer: Yeah 811: Maybe more if I was around the {D: the house} Interviewer: So you used to 811: Yeah I used to drink about twelve, fourteen cups a day. Interviewer: Somebody might ask you how much coffee have you 811: Have I drank. Interviewer: Yeah in your lifetime. You'd say I sure have drank 811: {NW} Sure drank plenty. Interviewer: #1 Drank eight or ten cups a day # 811: #2 {NW} # Interviewer: Now when dinner was on the table and uh and the family is sitting around waiting to begin, what do you say to 'em? 811: That dinner's ready. Interviewer: Y'all. 811: Y'all let's get to dinner. Interviewer: Okay. Get a chair and 811: Come sit at the table. Interviewer: If you have company for dinner you know he comes in, he knocks the door, you say 811: Well come on in. You're just time for lunch. We're just fixing to have lunch. Interviewer: Okay. Um Uh Won't you here's a chair, won't you 811: Won't you have a seat and join us for lunch? Interviewer: Okay so he took the chair and 811: had lunch with us. {NW} Interviewer: Nobody was standing, they could all 811: all sit down. Interviewer: Sit down. And uh if you wanted somebody to not wait until the potatoes were passed, you'd say go ahead and 811: and help yourself. Interviewer: So he went ahead and 811: and helped themself. Interviewer: Helped himself. Um Um when you were, say if you were at a friends' Joe, how would you they passed you some rutabagas and you hated rutabagas you know you'd say I don't 811: I don't care for any. {NW} Interviewer: Care for 'em. Um now on Sunday Or the meal on Sunday evening. The food might be cooked and served a second time. You'd say it had been warmed 811: Uh rewarmed. Reheated. Interviewer: Warmed. 811: Warmed over. Interviewer: Warmed over. Uh now did- what- did you ever smoke uh 811: Yeah. Interviewer: What did you smoke? 811: Um Winstons. Interviewer: You smoked cig- 811: Cigarettes. Interviewer: Okay did you ever smoke anything else? 811: Uh cigars uh very very seldom but I smoked one maybe once or twice a year. Interviewer: Yeah. 811: {D: Had a new baby so I passed the habit.} Interviewer: You didn't smoke them very 811: No. Interviewer: Okay. What about other ways of tobacco? Like do what they would do 811: Roll 'em uh I had smoked some of them too The ones you rolled yourself Interviewer: Oh where you put it in your mouth 811: Yeah and smoke it. Uh Interviewer: The kind where they'd put in their mouth and it'd make {D: water} 811: Oh no, I never dipped. Uh that sniff, I never did chew that, no. Whatever that- I never did chew Smoked quite a bit, but I didn't chew. Interviewer: Okay. Um now you were talking about about when you went to the mill, when you said you went to the mill you'd get to you might have cornmeal ground there okay and you'd make cornmeal out of it or you would- what else would you make? 811: Well uh uh your corn you uh take your corn over and you have it ground uh to make cornmeal with. Or you do- you could have it chopped to make chicken feed. Interviewer: Okay. Did you ever take it and have it ground up and then you'd take it home and boil it? You know, in the it's really southern food, folks don't like it up north. And they boil it and you might eat it in the morning with your sausage, your eggs, it'd be white. And you might put butter or gravy or salt and pepper on it. 811: I I never did see it done out here. People talk about it, but I never did see it done. Interviewer: What- what'd they call it? 811: Um I just remember they called it, I remember Interviewer: You know what grits was? 811: Yeah. Interviewer: Well you liked them didn't you? 811: Yeah. {NW} But grits wasn't wasn't made out of corn not that I know of. Interviewer: What was it made out of? 811: {NW} I ate a whole lot of grits but I never even know what they was made out of. Interviewer: Out of what? 811: I never did know what they was made out of. Interviewer: {NW} Okay. Alright Did you ever seem 'em put corn in lye? And some sort of thing out of that? Lye hominy, you ever eat that? {D: Or Holland? any sort of home?} Alright. Um okay now something would- somebody was cooking something and it'd make a good impression on your nostrils. 811: Should smell good. Interviewer: You might say to somebody mm Hmm won't you just sme- 811: Smell, smell or whatever. Interviewer: smell what? Just like, take a take a sniff 811: Yeah, take a sniff of this. Interviewer: Okay. 811: {NW} Interviewer: Um now you crushed the cane and you would boil the juice and make 811: Make syrup or uh make sugar. Interviewer: Anything else? 811: Make syrup sugar. Interviewer: Um what about something thicker than syrup? 811: Uh Interviewer: What's thicker than syrup? That black stuff. 811: Black jewel. Interviewer: Huh? 811: Black jewel. Interviewer: Black jewel? 811: Yeah. Interviewer: What's that? 811: Uh that's uh that you use that to feed the cattle {D: it would take things up they make} Interviewer: Okay. 811: From sugarcane. {D: Uh they call it proleke} Well usually uh Well less after it's all mixed up, but what- what'd they call it you go pick it up and its black jewel syrup. Interviewer: Okay and from sorghum you'd make what? Uh Did you ever make molasses? You know what that was? 811: Yeah, but yeah I have- that's uh bout the same purpose of that black jewel syrup. Interviewer: What? 811: That I uh uh Interviewer: What's the difference? 811: Uh I- well all I know you used to go pick it up uh about three, four years ago from the sugarcane plants Interviewer: What? 811: {NW} we'd call it molasses, black jewel syrup. and uh Interviewer: Um now there's imitation you might say this is an imitation maple syrup, this is well you know the syrup you buy now, it's not some of it- you used to buy maple syrup, right? 811: #1 Yeah. # Interviewer: #2 Did you hear about that? # 811: Or either pure cane syrup. #1 {NW} # Interviewer: #2 What's that? # 811: Or pure cane syrup. Interviewer: Pure cane or Something like the pure cane syrup or or it might be imitation you know, the stuff they make nowadays is not the but you might say, this is not imitation, this is 811: It's real, you know, the The- the gener- Interviewer: The genui- This is the- this is the 811: {X} Interviewer: Okay but on a belt what would it have to show that it was cowhide? And nothing else? You know? They have a mark on those belts and they say 811: Uh, don't know Interviewer: Genu- 811: Geri- Geri- Interviewer: Genuine. 811: Genuine cowhide. Interviewer: Yeah you ever seen those on the belts you buy? Well when something's not imitation you say what, genu- 811: It's a genuine Interviewer: Genuine or 811: Genuine whatever it is. Interviewer: Yeah okay. When they sold syrup, when they used to sell it, how did it come, Joe? 811: Uh you could get it in gallons, half gallons Interviewer: Okay, or sugar? 811: Uh Interviewer: In the store you bought it uh 811: You could buy the Interviewer: When it wasn't put in package 811: #1 You could buy it loose # Interviewer: #2 {D: The packing was the} # Hmm? 811: You could buy it loose uh nickel's, dime worth, whatever you wanted. Interviewer: Ten? 811: Ten- ten pound, five pound, hundred pound Interviewer: five cents or 811: yeah, a dime's worth Interviewer: Ten- 811: Ten cent Interviewer: Ten cent worth Uh Okay they sold it in bu- in they sold it by what? By bulk? Bulk? 811: Well Interviewer: What about crackers? Do you ever see them? 811: Uh Interviewer: Did you buy crackers? 811: I- I don't. I see them in the just seen the packs, I've never seen uh Interviewer: Okay. And on the table, to season food with, you'd have? 811: Uh s- uh Interviewer: Just the two things you know 811: Yeah. It's the salt shaker and pepper shaker. Interviewer: Yeah salt and 811: Salt and pepper. Interviewer: Okay. Um now there's a bowl of fruit say peaches and apples and somebody offers you a peach, you'd say no 811: thank you. Interviewer: In order to get the I don't want a peach 811: Uh take the apple Interviewer: Okay your brother comes in you know he'd have a bunch of something with him and you'd say want- You know he'd have a bunch of apples with him, you'd say hey why don't you 811: Have a- give me a apple or Interviewer: Yeah. Um When uh would you ever, you know, you'd go by the trees around here, the pecan trees and then stuff a lot in your pockets? {X} {NW} And come back and 811: your pockets are sticking out. Interviewer: With a bunch of 811: pecans or Interviewer: Yeah. Plundered all sorts of things like that. Um. Now a place where they would grow a lot of uh a lot of fruits and things like that uh if you had a lot of peach trees you got a 811: Uh you got a peach orchard. Uh Interviewer: Um Okay was there anybody around here like a man 811: No uh {D: We- no, we had what we would call} the only thing he- you had quite a bit of was figs. Uh Interviewer: Probably got tired of them. 811: And um people would have quite a few of those trees. That's about the most- and pears you would get a quite a few pears. Some of 'em had pear orchards. And uh pecan orchards. That was about the most. That's uh there's other fruits they did oranges and apples and stuff they n- I never know {X} Interviewer: We used to have some oranges here, didn't you? 811: Not that I remember. Interviewer: Okay. 811: I never did know the Interviewer: What about wild uh {X} 811: Oh there, you see quite a bit of strawberries. Interviewer: Yeah? 811: Yeah Interviewer: Okay. 811: {NW} They got {NW} orange trees. But uh these people just use- plant it for their own use, you know. They don't get out {X} You might go by there, they might sell you a couple of bagfuls. Interviewer: Of what? 811: Uh tangerines or {D: do a little bit of} oranges. But they had never had done with it you know to put it on the market. They rarely sell. Interviewer: Oh. {D: For me, raisins and oranges in any kitchen for} 811: {D: From what I know it's all in use uh} his kids, grandkids, and stuff like #1 that. # Interviewer: #2 Yeah. # Um okay. What about uh any other wild things uh? That old tree that George Washington chopped down, you got them around here? 811: Uh Interviewer: Cher- 811: Cherry trees? Interviewer: Yeah. 811: Um If they're here, they- they're very rare. Interviewer: You ever eaten a cherry? When you eat once, you bite down on the what? You might break a tooth. 811: Oh oh the seed. Interviewer: Break off a 811: Break off a tooth on a seed. Interviewer: Yeah. Um now the peach, the inside of the peach is the 811: Uh you got a- a seed in the peach or uh Interviewer: Georgia is, now that's where we raise peaches over there. 811: Y'all raise peaches? Interviewer: Oh yeah, we call ourselves the peach state. 811: They say that the the the the swamp, let's see what the heck is that? It used to be the pelican state. {D: We battled to change it.} Interviewer: Louisiana? 811: Yeah. Louisiana was the pelican state but they changed it to uh now let's see the bayou country. Interviewer: Uh. Kind of peach you have to cut the seed out of 811: I don't know that much about peaches. Interviewer: You ever eaten one? 811: Yeah. Interviewer: There's one kind of peach you can just work it. 811: Yes it's open. Uh that was a I don't know the name but I know it was a juicy peach. {D: It was tickling} #1 {NW} # Interviewer: #2 And then the other one was a # 811: That was kind of a horrible peach where you had to cut it and peel it. Interviewer: You know they call this uh we were talking about the seed of the peach but normally it's a what? You call it a clear seed or? A clear stone or? Clean stone or? 811: I don't know that much about peaches. Interviewer: Uh now after you've eaten the apple you throw away the 811: Uh the heart of it. With the seeds in there Interviewer: Yeah. Mm-kay. You call it the apple 811: Apple uh seeds or or the heart of the apple. Interviewer: Okay. Would y'all ever take any fruits and dry 'em. 811: Uh no. Interviewer: Like apples. 811: Uh-uh. Interviewer: Take anything and dry it? 811: #1 Uh # Interviewer: #2 {D: like catsup, you said?} # 811: Yeah stuff like that but uh {D: And kushas and stuff before one of the seeds for next year} Cucumbers. Interviewer: {D: Kusha is a kind of a what?} 811: Uh it's a preserve. Something that you can preserve. Interviewer: Can you eat it? 811: Yeah. You take it and you cook it down in syrup or sugar and make you a- a preserve. {NW} Uh we did squash. We'd let the squash dry out. #1 {D: You got heard of that} # Interviewer: #2 They'd call that what? # when you let them dry. {X} 811: Uh well all you would- well, you wouldn't let that many dry, about four or five of each for the seeds. uh Sometimes you'd just, when you had opened 'em, you would take the seeds and put them out there and let 'em dry. Interviewer: Yeah. Uh Okay when you dried the skin, it would do what? 811: It would shrink up. It would get hard hard. Interviewer: Yeah. The skin would kind of uh 811: It would shrink. Interviewer: Shriv- 811: Shrink up and you'd have to break, you'd have to use a hammer or something. I need a piece of wood, something to hit on it. After it'd get dry. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. You see the skin it would get all- you know the skin would get all all shri- uh 811: It would all shrivel up. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. Um Okay uh now the kind of nuts that you pull out of the ground and roast we grow 'em over in Georgia. 811: Oh uh peanuts. Interviewer: Yeah. Other names for 'em? 811: Uh {D: the friend would call them pistas} Interviewer: {D: Pista?} Okay. Pindars, you ever hear that? 811: Yeah. Interviewer: Goobers? 811: Uh pindars. and- Interviewer: Uh now what other kind of nuts do you have? 811: Uh You had pecan, and uh {D: ahicto nuts} uh that's about it. Interviewer: What about those kind of nut that they would put over chicken, when they cook chicken you know, a certain way? They call it or or turtle when they're- You ever hear they put almonds those long flat nuts over. Almonds. 811: I don't know the term. Interviewer: Okay. Alright. Any other sort of nuts like wal- or black- 811: Uh Interviewer: Black- 811: What the- that's uh hickory nuts? Interviewer: Hickory 811: Yeah. Hickory. Interviewer: Or black walnut? 811: Wal- walnut. Interviewer: Black walnut? 811: Yeah that's the one that was so hard to break. Interviewer: What's that? 811: I say that's the ones, the ones that was so hard to break. Interviewer: Okay. They have what on the head? 811: They had a uh shell, a black shell on 'em. Uh well a black hull. And then you had the shell. They had a hull on top of 'em. Interviewer: This was a what? 811: A- a black uh uh hickory nut I think it was uh. Interviewer: Okay. Or a walnut? 811: A wal- a walnut. Interviewer: Okay. Um Now you said you used to have strawberries here but now they're all 811: Uh they might have a few people still plant 'em but I haven't seen them in quite a while. Interviewer: They're all 811: They're all, everybody just quit planting 'em. Interviewer: All all gone. 811: All gone. Interviewer: Pretty much in other words for all intents and purposes they're all 811: All gone. Interviewer: All gone. Oh. Okay now what kind of vegetables, what else do you raise here in your garden? Can you tell me about that, Joe? 811: Uh You raise Uh- a different sort of m- well uh we started mustard grape. You raise your garden you have to do garlic, get parsley. Um your beans, like peas, your snap beans, Interviewer: Okay. Any red vegetables? 811: Uh beets Interviewer: And the ones that have a root on 'em? Red-uh 811: A radish uh Interviewer: Okay. 811: And uh Interviewer: What about the kinds that come on a vine? 811: Uh yeah that's Interviewer: Slice 'em up and eat 'em in a salad? 811: Cucumbers and {D: most melons,} watermelons uh Interviewer: Okay. What kind of melons you raise? 811: Or {NW} There- most of them all, the striped one, yeah Interviewer: Yeah. Have you ever seen yellow meat melon? 811: Yeah we have planted some years ago um Interviewer: {X} 811: Yeah yellow meats uh and then quite a few years ago we planted some and they really made we'd bring about a wagon load. Interviewer: {NW} {NW} Uh.