Elm Fork Echoes, Volume 22, May 1994 Page: 40
64 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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MEMORIES OF "GA GA" PEARL GRAVLEY written by her descendents at their
annual Pearl Gravley Reunion in 1993.
MEMORIES OF MAMA
Wilton Gravley
June 5, 1993
Harvest Time - Summer
Each Spring the garden was planted with beans, peas, cucumber,
okra, squash, tomatoes-,, and other vegetables. There vegetables, along
with fresh field corn, wild grapes, peaches, pears, and other fruits
all matured in a relatively short period of time in late Sprirzg.and early
Summer. I remember mostly canning the corn, beans, peas, peaches and
pears.
Our old house on Perry Road had a relatively large front porch on
the West (front) side of the house. Since the porch was shady in the
morning, it was an ideal place to work. Most of the preparation activity
took place on the porch.
Corn, for example, was carefully pulled from the stalks in the early
morning. ve would usually gather several bushels of the fresh, green,
soft-kerneled corn and take it to the front porch. There, the corn was
shucked, ends removed, "silks" removed, and last, the corn was cut from
the cob into large containers. I remember putting the corn in cans,
sealing the lids on with a mechanical machine, and then putting the cans
into pressure cookers for the final cooking. Not much is better than
fresh corn!
Other vegetables were likewise prepared on the porch. Beans were
"snapped", peas shelled, the other veggies prepared, "canned", cooked, and
put up for the winter.
Peaches were also prepared by the bushels. They had to be pealed,
the seed (pit) removed, and cut up. By the time this was over, you were
usually covered with reach juice.. and "fuzz" from pealings. The fuzz
was itchy, but you did not dare to scratch!
Wild grapes were gathered from Grandma Perry's woods in the river
bottom. They were used to make grape juice, jelly, and jam. Good!
All this preparation and canning was supervised by Mama! Her
input was everywhere. She helped pull the corn, gather the grapes,
peaches, beans, etc. Nothing escaped her -- the corn could not be cut
too big, the peaches had to be peeled correctly ("don't peel away the
peach"), all the silk had to be removed from the corn, and all the strings
from the beans!
However, in the winter no one complained! How else could farm
people survive, except by eating summer's canning!
Hog-Killing Time - Winter
Two or three hogs were fat and ready for slaughter, usually by
January. Mama and Daddy would carefully watch the weather and (hopefully)
pick a time when it would be cold. for several days.
When the time came, Daddy would load up the 22 rifle, shoot the hog
between the eyes, load, it on a sled, and take it to Grandma Perry's house.
There, the hog would be scalded, hair scraped off, hung up by his hind legs,
gutted and cut up into pieces.
The women - Mama, Grandma Perry, and others - would trim fat, grind
sausage, render lard., and help prepare the meat for curing.40
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Peters Colony Historical Society of Dallas County, Texas. Elm Fork Echoes, Volume 22, May 1994, periodical, May 1994; Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth760609/m1/44/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Carrollton Public Library.