Fond recollections of growing up on a family farm. Written by Harold Eddleman.
The seed catalogs arrived in early January. Everyone in the family spent some time looking at them, but I devored them. Besides looking for the cultivars recommended in Extension literature, I usually bought a few unusual seeds each year: peanuts, eggplant, ..... Dad planned the crops for the year. Mostly we just feed and milked the cows and cared for the other animals. Sometimes we threw some of the strawy manure up 3 feet high around the stable walls to stop some of the wind and make the cattle a little warmer.
There were usually a few snowy days during January and sometimes to mid-March. Frequently the ground would freeze a fraction of an inch at night and thaw out the following day. Sometimes vertially ice colums formed an inch tall and melted by noon. This "heaving" was a major agricultural problem for it pulled overwintering plants such as wheat, and legumes out of the ground. By March the crown of wheat plants were an inch or more above the soil. Such plants struggled on, but could not yield much grain. When the March winds came a few feet of such heaved plants were piled up against the fencerows. Due to heaving legumes such as red clover, and alfalfa could barely survive well enogh to met the seeding costs. In college, I learned the secret was to get a stand of grass which acted as expansion absorbers for the pressure of the ice crystals so legumes were not heaved. But no grasses grew well so that information was not much use Until the Unversity of Kentucky bred Ky 31 Fescue which could grow on the infertile soils. But it crowded out the legumes.
The main business was tending the livestock and cutting firewood. Dad or I often went to the woods with Grace, the gentler of our horses, wrapped a log chain around a fallen dead tree and pulled it to the woodyard, just a convenient spot for sawing the wood and carrying it to the house. Usually Dad and I cut it with a 2-man crosscut saw, but a bucksaw was faster for the 4 inch and smaller logs. In later years, we used a power saw Dad built on the front end of the tractor. Mid-February was the time to plant cabbage seeds. Hay seeds were broadcast: clover, Lespedeza, grasses.
Starting the gardens by planting the cool season vegetables was the main event of the month. We planted onions, Irish potatoes, peas (February would have been better), lettuce, radishes, Kale, cabbage.
The big event of April was the end of the school year about April 23rd. Redbud trees flower brillantly in the forest borders about April 15 to 20. Replant any garden that rotted due to cold rainy weather. Plant the hotbeds that were heated by installing a layer of fresh manure in the bottom.
Set tomato and sweetpotato plants which had been grown in the hotbed to the garden. Frost-free date as May 10. But it was worthwhile to try some tomatoes in April and if they were not frosted you had a head start on an early crop. Plowing ground for corn began in April and the main cornfields were planted in mid May, but wet weather often delayed corn planting into June with June 22 being the last day to plant short season hybrids.
June was devoted to cultivating crops: gardens and corn fields. Soybeans (black seeds) and sudan grass might be planted for hay crops.
Irish potato were dug July 10 and the ground leveled for planting turnips for rabbit, cows, and family. It turns out planting turnips in late August or early September would be better. Tomato harvest for family canning began in late July and continued into August. We did not know it, but July is a good time to plant cole crops for fall harvest. Four-H fair was July 20-22.
This was our main hay cutting season because Korean lespedeza was the only legume we could count on growing on our poor clay soils. This was an annual crop planted broadcast in February. It could be cut in early morning and placed in the barn by late afternoon on a hot dry day. State Fair was last week of August and a school bus was available for the kids who had the money to attend.
School began the day after the first Monday. The weather was sometimes very hot during the first two weeks of the month. We were glad to get home. Corn cutting and shocking began mid-month or we let it stand and picked it by hand later. Cutting corn gave stover for the cows and let us plant wheat. I hated corn cutting. The ears banged against my head and the sharp blades cut our faces unless we pulled wornout women's stocking over our face for protection. Begin cutting
Soft red winter wheat was planted after the Hessian Fly had stopped looking for plants to lay their eggs. Corn shredding began mid-October. Sorghum cane was cut and the juice squeezed out for making molasses.
Pick corn if any left. Pick up nuts in the forest. Cut firewood.
Cut firewood.
Begun May 1997 - revision #4 - 1998 Janurary 29
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