Lovie Fomby
Family Treasures
Bake when I was little I remember when we had a new sister or brother, Papa would cook breakfast, he made up his biscuits in a bowl and poured them in pan to cook, then cut into pieces, they were good with some jelly.
When we would have unexpected company to come to spend the night, Papa and Mama would get up and build a fire in cook stove, put on a big pot of water, go out, catch and kill 2 chicken fryers. Mama would fry them for breakfast, make a big skillet of gravy with plenty of hot biscuits. We always had syrup and jelly, plenty of milk and butter.
Mama and Papa always had plenty of milk. When cooking dinner Mama cooked extra cornbread so we could have it to crumble in milk at night for supper. After dinner a jug of fresh milk was put in a bucket and let down in the well to cool. When supper time came it was nice and cool to go with cornbread.
On hog killing days, Papa would start early, get on hog cleaned and dressed, so Mama would have a big pot of spare ribs to cook for dinner. She would take some of the liver and a piece of fresh meat, cut it up, put in a big pot and season up real good, cook a long time and oh it was so good. Papa loved it. Mama always fried some of the hog liver. They would take all the fat, cut it up. Papa would put in wash pot, he knew exactly how hot to have the fire under it. he always made him a paddle to stir with, they would cook out the grease and use it to cook with. The cracklings were good too, and we always had several skillets of crackling bread to go with dry beans, turnip greens, glass of milk, and it was good just by itself.
Papa picked a lot of dry peas, they were shelled out, put in containers and Mama cooked them in wintertime.
When canning time came, especially tomatoes, Papa would pick a lot of nice ripe ones, they would get out under a shade tree, peel and cut up dish pans of tomatoes, then carried them inside, cooked and put in jars.
On wash days Papa always got up first and built a fire in stove for Mama to cook breakfast. While she was cooking breakfast, he would draw up a big wash pot of water, build a fire under it so water would be hot to start washing. Soon as breakfast was over, Papa would keep the water drawn and fire around the pot to boil the clothes. They were washed by rubboard and hand, hung on line to fry.
When Papa and Mama were young, you went by way of wagon and mules. I remember when I was still little, Papa had carried several of children to see Granny Price, (his Mama), I didn’t go, neither did Mama. On his way home, he got into a hail storm so he ran the wagon under the bridge that went across the creek and stayed until the storm was over. Mama was at home scared to death.
When Mam’s health broke, Papa went to public work, he still had a good garden. I moved from Texarkana, Arkansas in early 1946 and I lived with Mama and Papa, and took car of Mama, so Papa could work, then when Mama passed away in July of 1947, I moved to Raymond, then in January, 1951, Papa moved with me and lived until his death in November 1965.
Shiloh To Canaan Kitchen 