Barn Charm- May 14, 2012 (from Junie's Place blog)

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Barn Charm_May 14,2012

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*go to Tricia's Barn Charm for more BARN post*

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Every year we make a trip to the north Alabama where my husband grew up. I enjoy riding around the countryside and seeing many old barns that still stand. My husband has memories and connections to  a lot of them and, especially, to this one.

This barn is on the land where my husband's family lived  for several years - from the time he was a little guy until he was about age 15 - if I remember correctly!

The area was known as Mud Bottom,located near the Elk River.

The house that they lived in is not there anymore

 (having been replaced years ago with a new one)

  but the surrounding fields still have crops of cotton or corn growing each year and the old barn still stands!

Love,

Junie

Barn Charm_April 11, 2011- Another Alabama Barn

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~more Barn Charm posts can be found here~

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This is  a barn in northern Alabama that was in the neighborhood where my husband grew up.  He remembers playing in this barn with friends, as a young boy! 

 This barn still stands and is still in use! It looks great. 

 We usually ride by it every visit we make up there. This pic is pretty recent...I think  it was 2 years ago!

Junie

Barn Charm~Mar 20, 2012~

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~~see more BARNS here~~

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This is a charming old barn we see every time we make the trip to Alabama to visit the folks!

We usually are there in summer and the barn front is covered with Ivy...not so much in March, I noticed.

(click on pic to enlarge)

Junie

 

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~go here to see more Pink Saturday posts~

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We just got back from a sad trip to Alabama; a death in the family.

(Charles brother, Odell, passed away)

Picture at bottom of this post of

-L to R~ Odell-Joyce-Charles

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Although it was a sad occasion, I was so touched by the beauty of the springtime flowering trees in full bloom.

 This was taken as we were zooming down the highway north of Birmingham. Although this is a blurred picture, I love the soft pastels in this scene.

(click on pic to see better)

Love,

Junie

Barn Charm ~ (from Junie's Place)

Barn Charm_Aug 30, 2011

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~go here to see other Barn Charm posts~

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I've always loved seeing old barns...well, new ones, too, but the old ones have more charm for me.  I always look for barns to capture in my camera lens on our trips to Alabama.

This is one we saw on our trip this year.

Junie

Barn Charm~April 4, 2011

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Barn Charm

~go here to see other Barn Charm posts~

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This is a new Picture meme for me but I love old barns and farm buildings so I want to share this one here.

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This is a log cotton shed that stood, and still stands, on the place where my husband lived as a young boy.  

His memories of this place date from the mid-30s. This is in north Alabama.

At the time his family lived there, all the barns and out-buildings and even the house were made of logs.

This is all that remains today of the old log buildings.

We go back every summer to see if the cotton shed is still standing...as of last August, it still was!

~Much more about this cotton shed~



Junie

Weekend Reflections~ August 13, 2010

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*Go here* to find other weekend Reflections Posts.

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On a recent trip to north Alabama my husband and I were riding in the country when we came upon this pretty spot.  I noticed the cool reflections of the trees along the creek bank and of the geese swimming in the water and further down there are some cattle cooling off; a very peaceful scene!

This is the place where my husband grew up! We enjoy going back to visit each year and to experience again the beauty of the rural countryside.

Junie

Elk River-Revisited

 This is a Repeat post!

  This was posted last year after our  annual trip to Alabama.

( posted at Junie's Place blog)

  Every year we have a family reunion there for my husband's family! We will be going again at the end of the month!

(from Aug, 2009 )

I always enjoy visiting the places of my husband's youth and hearing his stories! :)

I realized this story belonged on THIS blog so I'm re-posting it here!

Enjoy-if you missed it before!  :)

Junie

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This time I want to share some recent pictures from an Alabama trip!

This is Elk River and Elk River bridge in north Alabama.

My husband of 48 years has, through the years, told me stories of how he, his brothers and sisters, cousins and buddies, watched every bit of construction work on this bridge. This was in the mid 40s when my husband was about 11-12 years of age-with siblings both younger and older than he. They lived just a mile or so from this river and swam in the river and played on these river banks from a very early age, so they had a vested interest in the happenings here.

He says that, while the men were working on the bridge during the day, he and the others would keep a little distance between them; but when the workers went home for the evening the group of kids would converge on the bridge construction site and have some adventures!

My husband says that he and the others were the night crew who helped to build that bridge! :)

When the crew got the steel beams set across the span of the river they (the kids on the 2nd shift) would go from one side to the other. It started out in a crawl across-but advanced to a walk and then a run... 40 to 50 feet above the Elk River...on beams no more than 14 inches for the outside and 8 inches for the inside beams! He says they became expert on all of them.

(...if my husband's memory is accurate! ) :)

*However you look at it , though, I would have had a hard time being a mom in those times and that place!!*


















When this bridge was completed, a huge , whole hog BBQ ( at least '10' -800 lb.hogs) was sponsored by the family who the bridge was named for and took place at the area beneath the bridge. This meat was prepared in dug pits and started to cook the day before!

Charles still talks of the wonderful aroma of the roasting meat! This was a huge event for these country kids of that time-adults too, I'm sure!

People from miles around came for this celebration and food and drinks! Sweet tea and RC colas and orange drinks were served!

The leftovers were offered to anyone who wanted them, as take homes! :) I can imagine there was food-a-plenty that day!

The bridge is named 'Maple'- in honor of a prominent doctor and land owner in the Athens/Mud Bottom area, Dr. Joe Maple.

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Junie

Brothers

This is another little snippet from my husbands memories of growing up in Alabama-probably early 40s...





Brothers

It seems growing up in a family of ten kids could be a real blast!


O.K.- There were six girls sharing a room and four boys sharing the other, in the upstairs of the house where they lived.

Bro #1 and bro #2 shared a bed, as did bro #3 and bro #4.
(This mini story is about Bros #1 & #2 –the older of the four boys.)

There was always a race between bros # 1 & #2 at bedtime, to be the first in bed.

The reasons being …for #1- to hog all the blankets -for #2 to PREVENT his brother from hogging the blankets-and to save himself from having to shiver -uncovered- all through the night! The older brother, being bigger, faster, perhaps more devious, usually won the races…so... if he didn’t take ALL the covers he at least had his pick of what he wanted! :)

One night things played out a little differently and bro #2 beat bro #1 to the top of the stairs and to the boy’s sleeping room! He could hardly believe his good luck as he entered the dark room and, running, still, made an air borne lunge to the familiar corner where he knew the bed to be!

…Where he THOUGHT he knew the bed to be! OUCH! A hard belly landing, for bro #2, and a big commotion to follow...outraged yelling of surprise and pain, by #2...loud laughter by #1 and the younger boys too!- ( truth be told!! )
Finally, bringing Daddy Boyd to the top of the stairs with a loud, "Shut your mouth and get to bed!"

It just so happened- during the day the sisters had decided to clean and re-arrange the boys’ room, putting the bed on the opposite side of the room! One bro knew-the other didn’t…but found out soon enough! :)


Very generous of #1 to let his brother win that race, eh? :)



June Kellum
2006

Jake

This is a story of my husband's first bike ~ and of Jake the pig!


This was posted first at my blog, 'Junie's Place,' in several parts, in 2006, but I will put it all together and in order here! ~~~

Jake
(Part 1)

He had wanted a bike for a long time, this Alabama farm boy.
Ed and his brothers had, in the past, tried with little success to build a bike…wheels of wood and whatever they could find of metal or wood to build a frame…bending tree limbs for handlebars! As resourceful as these boys were, and as determined, they were never able to achieve what they wanted.

Ed had seen the new bicycles, lined up in long rows outside of U.G.White’s hardware store at the NW corner of the town square, in all their shining splendor! The dark green and creamy white bike was the one that captured the boy’s attention and left a yearning in his heart like none he had known before.

At age eleven, growing up in the 30s and 40s, one in a family of ten children, Ed realized how unrealistic this dream was of having a bike of his own... especially a bright and shiny brand new Schwinn bike! Still, he couldn’t get the thoughts of the bikes out of his mind.

He wished desperately for a way of earning money to be able to pay for a bike! This, seemingly, was an impossible dream for an eleven-year-old farm boy.

But what is life without dreams?

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(Part 2)

In late fall, in this time and place, after the crops were harvested, most folks who had hogs would turn them out to forage in the fields, mostly corn fields; for whatever they could find to eat. No one minded as it benefited everyone for the hogs to roam free during this time. Winter was the time for slaughtering the hogs and the corn leavings in the fields would help in adding weight before the coldest days of winter came and the hogs could be butchered safely. Without refrigeration, the cold days were essential.

Sometimes sows with new litters of piglets would be seen. Often, hogs have more babies than they can raise. There is almost always a runt that gets shorted on the feeding, and does not thrive.

Such seemed to be the case with Jake.

Ed was the one who spotted the little runt pig, unable to keep up with his mother and brothers and sisters. He was much smaller than the rest and was always trailing behind in the ongoing search for food in the cornfields.

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(part 3)

The boy rescued the little pig from an almost certain young death, and with no way of knowing whose pig it was, decided to keep him, raise him! He gave him the name ‘Jake.’ He took special care to see that the little pig had food every day.

The plan from the start was to raise Jake up and sell him. In a few months Jake would bring a good price…enough for a bike Young Ed thought!

As the weeks passed, Jake grew well - becoming big and healthy. He also became a pet and in awhile Ed found himself rushing home after school, eager to see the pig. Jake would always come when he would hear his name called! He would follow the boy around the farm, much as a puppy would have done.

A strong attachment had developed, and it was mutual!

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(Part 4)

The days were getting colder and time was nearing when it would be the right day for the slaughter of the hogs.

Although, it had never been the intention that Jake be among those slaughtered, Ed had resolved to sell him at this time and have the money for that bike! It had been a few months since he had found Jake and with the care he had given him, the little runt pig had become an impressive hog!

Finally the day arrived and the job of the slaughter was undertaken. Neighbors helped neighbors, as was the way in those days. The job had to be done quickly, so as not to lose the meat to spoilage. There was a flurry of activity on the farm, with everyone willing to do their share with the task at hand!

Without refrigeration, the meat had to be salt-cured and hung in smokehouses. Lard was made from the fat of the hogs , ( an essential in those days) boiled in a big iron pot over open flames and then, drained. Any meaty parts were removed, leaving just the pure white lard. Sausage was made, too, with the spices and herbs grown in the garden added. Pickling of some parts of the hogs was also done in those days- (ears, feet, snouts) nothing could be wasted in those hard times. Chitterlings (Chittlins’), made from the intestines, were boiled and prepared in a big iron pot in the back yard. The women of the family carried out this process. Ma -the grandmother-had a fondness for this delicacy and was the self appointed over-seer of the chittlin' pot!

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(Part 5)

Ed and the younger siblings of the family were at school during this day of hard and unpleasant work. After school, as had become his usual thing, Ed went searching for Jake.

This time, Jake did not come running when his name was called. He searched every inch of the farm, calling the pig’s name, with an increasingly heavy heart! Jake could not be found.

Ed’s mother averted her eyes when asked if she had seen Jake, saying,” Oh, he’s around here somewhere!” His grandmother, too, was silent and avoided eye contact with her grandson. “Where could Jake be?’ the boy thought, sadly.

Ed suddenly realized some members of the family were missing. His daddy- his older brother- his older sister’s husband- all should have been there on this day of hard work of preparing the meat. He wondered where they all were.

He didn’t have long to ponder the mystery because at that moment they all arrived in his brother’s 1934 Ford, with a shiny, new, green and white Schwinn bike tied to the back! It was the bike of Ed’s fondest dreams!

So for the moment, thoughts of the pig were pushed aside.

~~~

(Part 6)

As it turned out and could now be revealed, Jake’s fate was a sad one - and ironic!

His mother and grandmother had wanted to wait for the return of the other family members with the bike, to make the news about Jake a little easier for Ed.

No! Jake was not among the slaughtered hogs that day, as one might have suspected.

Jake was hanging out with Ma around the chitterlings (chittlin’) pot, as she worked, preparing the parts for the pot! Unknown to her, as she tossed the unwanted sections of intestines aside, Jake was eating them. Jake choked on the discarded intestines!

The pig, after his untimely death, had been sold to a neighbor for a small sum of money, (Jake was not yet of the usual slaughtering size) though, not nearly enough for the bike! Family members added the extra money needed to buy the bicycle for young Ed!

Charles Edward would remember Jake through all the years - and that green and creamy white Schwinn, too!

And he would remember the kindness and generosity of his family on that day.

~~~

(Part 7)

Ed would have the bike for the next several years, until he went in the USAF just out of high school. He handed it over to his young nephews when he left home!


Years later, when he had his own wife and children, all of this was brought back fresh in his memory! On a visit back home with his family, there, hanging in his brother’s shed was the frame of the Schwinn bike!

All of the bittersweet memories of that time…of the bike and of Jake…came back in full focus for a little bit.


Note:

I, personally, have wondered if the young Ed would have gone through with the selling of Jake in order to get the bike.

However, considering the time and place in the past of this story, he probably would have. The cost of keeping a pig for a pet would have been too extravagant in those hard times!

…Besides... the young boy, Ed, had that burning desire for that new Schwinn bike! :)


Junie

June Kellum

Lessons Learned

...Here are more early memories from Mud Bottom -my husband's young years!...

Lessons Learned

Being the youngest of four adventurous brothers (Not to mention, also, having six sisters) could often be hazardous to a boy! This lesson young Ed learned, early on - with up-dates from time to time.

Farm life was not ALL work. There were times when boys could explore!

In the country neighborhood of Mud Bottom there happened to be an old abandoned log house. No one had lived there for a long time. The yard was overgrown with weeds, with the house almost hidden from view. It was the kind of place that would call to young, inquisitive boys to get a better, closer up, look!

The right day came for the three younger boys to explore the old log house. Ed was always up for some fun. He was about age six, with his brother Odell, eight and brother Jack, eleven.

The only thing of interest to be found in the old house was a pile of long discarded, mostly worn out, clothes! Being the only ’Find’ of their adventure, nevertheless, the boys focused on this pile of musty smelling old clothes!

Among the raggedy duds was found a pair of ‘under drawers’ which most likely had never seen the inside of a wash pot, nor ever flapped on a clothesline to freshen in the breeze! Ed remembers them as being a dingy white in color with brownish spots…especially in the seat area.

Jack dared his little brother, Ed, to try the underwear on! Perhaps Ed was intrigued with finding a pair of under drawers of his own. Little country boys his age often wore their overalls with nothing between the rough fabric and tender bottom! Whatever the reason, Ed did just as his brother told him to do! He shucked off his overalls and with his brothers watching him he put one bare foot and then the other into the underwear and pulled them up! He found them WAY too big!

It might would have been a blessing that they didn’t fit and he would leave them there in the heap of old clothes…so that his mother would not discover them when the next bath time came around!

It might would have been …except Jack said, ”Ummmm, I’m telling Mother you found some old under drawers and put them on!!” And with that the two older boys raced home, and did just that; leaving Ed to scramble back into his overalls as quickly as he could, and follow.

A set up!!

Ed of course, got a whipping from Mother and spent hours in a tub of water on the back porch, scrubbing his bottom with a bar of lye soap!

The brothers laughed! :)

June Kellum

July 2006

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This picture was taken on our recent trip to Mud Bottom!
The old barn is still there and , still used, it seems!
A big, new house was built on the spot where my husband's family lived, but the barn remained the same- except for the red paint!
:) Charles said it had no paint on it in their time there!









Amazing to me that so many old barns are still standing - after 70 -or even more- years!

I love the old things!



Junie

The Rent Crib

This is a small corn crib (the rent crib) that still stands on the old home place where my husband lived in his youth! This crib was used to store the 1/3 of the corn crop, which went to the landlord for rent of the farm.

This is in Limestone Co, Alabama in the farming area known as Mud Bottom, near the banks of Elk River.






Junie

Farm Life of the Past: Breakfast Time

...one more little story from my husband's memories of growing up in a big family in Alabama...

  (First posted, May 2006, at Junie's Place~ comments can be seen there)

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Breakfast Time


Breakfast, to feed a family of twelve people, had to be a big thing.

There was the platter of sausage patties, piled in a mountain, perhaps, ten deep at it’s highest point… the biscuits counted in dozens…rolled out and cut in perfect round circles…to rise and brown to perfection… the butter, hand churned and molded in neat blocks, lightly salted… Jams or jellies from the summer’s bounty and canned by Mother and the girls, to mix and melt with the butter inside those biscuits… the eggs, gathered daily, cooked, sunny side up, stacked, one atop the other… the browned, milk gravy – to top it all off!

There was always milk to drink - and buttermilk!

And coffee, hot and black for the adults. It was the custom in those days to pour coffee from the cup into the saucer for cooling- a curious thing to do and something that is seldom seen in today’s world!

Some child among the ten, at almost every meal, would manage to spill a glass of milk!
Being one of the youngest it was often Ed who would have this mishap, resulting in a stern look, at the least, from the head of the family, Daddy! Invariably, with eleven sets of eyes watching, tears would follow!

Sausage, when available, was a favorite of one and all in the family. The platter was passed around the table and everyone took what they wanted. It was considered poor manners to take the last of anything left on a serving dish…(if you were a kid, especially) in case somebody else wanted it.

Once there was one lone sausage left on the serving plate. Several eyes were on this fine morsel but no one had yet worked up the courage to make the move on it.  Finally, one of the older sisters went for it! Her fork was half way back to her mouth with the sausage when it was taken, in mid air, by the older brother; and was gone in a flash!!

So much for manners!!

:)

June Kellum
May, 2006

Mud Bottom Cotton Chopping-Summer 1944

This is another story from my husband's growing up years in Alabama -  and this is mostly in his own words!

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Mud Bottom Cotton Chopping - Summer 1944

The area where this story takes place was known as Mud Bottom. It was in the bend of the Elk River, where Alabama and Tennessee joined, in northern Limestone Co, Al. This river bottom land was excellent farmland. It was called Mud Bottom because of the, often, muddy conditions - especially in winter.

Cotton had to be chopped three times between it’s coming up out of the ground and laying it by. (end of plowing and chopping) With a family of ten children, and Daddy supervising, the work progressed at a steady pace!

(Or a steady CHOP- as it were!)

It was hard work in the sun all day, so we had to have drinking water. Usually one of the boys would be designated for this job. On this particular day Jack was sent to the house where the well was located, on this errand. The well water had to be transported in glass gallon jugs.

This day, Jack was gone an unusually long time, for the two-mile trip- there and back.

Finally, we could see him coming up the field road, with his bare feet kicking up the dust.

It seemed he would never get to us with the cool, fresh water! When he finally reached us we could see why it had taken him such a long time to make the trip.

On the way back with the water he had stopped at a blackberry patch and picked the jug half full of blackberries! That cool, fresh water was filled with all manner of trash, not to mention the small spiders, ants, and bugs!

He thought we would be thrilled that he had brought us the berries but water was what we needed and no one wanted to drink that water!

True to Jack’s sense of humor and personality he said, ”If no one else is going to drink it, I will! I don’t care how trashy it is! I’ll let my kidneys filter it out, all they do is set up in there and ride!”

And with that he tilted the jug and took a long swig!  ;)

Daddy looked at the sky and saw that the sun was about an hour high and said, “Let’s quit for the day!”

June Kellum

May 2006

Note:

Thinking about this story I've wondered if there might not have been some secret gratitude felt by some of the others,  for Jack's dallying on that trip for water that day.

In the end  it made for a shorter day!  :)

Pictures:

The group is from about the time of the story. It's the oldest brother  and the 2 youngest sisters of the family.

The mischievous boy peeking around the back is Jack!

The second picture is of Jack , about 19 47.

Junie

Chopping Cotton

This is a little look into the life of my husband and his brothers and sisters lives in the mid- 40s ~ as retold from his memories.

(Re-post from 'Junie's Place' blog - May 1, 2006 )

Chopping Cotton

It was mid-summer in the cotton field in Alabama, with tempers rising right along with the temperature!

Each face was soon glistening with sweat, attracting a light coating of the dust that resulted with the hoe working the weeds from between the cotton stalks.

The long and weedy rows of cotton seemed to go on and on, endlessly!

This summer the two pre-adolescent sisters, little more than a year apart in age, were getting on each others nerves in a big way.

The brothers, working along with them moved ahead with their work at a good pace, wanting the day’s work to end… though that was not likely to happen before sundown!

The girls, though, seemed to have found a diversion from the boring job of - chop-chop-chop!

The boys, on more than one glance backward toward their younger sisters, had seen

the two girls going at each other- tooth and nail- along with hair pulling! At times, all to be seen was a swirl of dust, as the girls went round and round!

One was overheard saying to her sister, “I wouldn’t mind fightin’ with you if you’d take a bath once in awhile!”

LOL…Life on the farm…

Junie