News, Indian Summer, Grass Roots and Cockle Burrs, LaSalle Parish, La.





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Submitted by: Pat Ezell

From the Jena Times - Olla Tullos Signal, Jena, LA 
Thank You to the Times -Signal for allowing the following to be added to the
Archives. 

Grass Roots and Cockle Burrs

"Indian Summer"

by Jack Morgan Willis   

There's just something about fall that is refreshingàespecially this Y2K year.
Only a few days ago the temperatures were soaring above a hundred degrees for
days on end. Then here comes a cool front in, with rain showers dropping temps
some 50 or so degrees. Sweet relief!   It is so amazing, how almost overnight,
where  tangles of green weeds, brambles and dense thickets once abounded, they
were divinely replaced with verdant fields of Goldenrod and Black-eyed Susans,
waving in the thermal currents of a dying summer. The atmosphere is dominated
by  blue haze. 

Folklore sources reveal that this period of the year was named Indian Summer
because of the smoke of the cooking and warming fires in Indian villages
permeated the scenic fall vistas for miles around. Leaves are taking on their
new fall hues due to the cessation of chlorophyll input, and the trees are
discharging them to tumble to the ground in multi-colored swirls. And today,
it is time to pause and enjoy all this scenic grandeur, but it wasn't always
like thisà   Years ago there were still chores to be addressed prior to the
impending winter season.   

October was the time of harvest, the huge full moon during the month was known
as the Harvest moon and a multitude of songs pay homage to it. This was the
culmination of the food preservation season. Vegetables had been gathered,
blanched, put in cans or jars, pressure cooked, and then stored on shelves in
the pantry for the winter. Sweet potatoes or yams had been dug and stored in
the "tater" bank. It was time to clear off the gardens of their old plant
foliage and give the cultivated areas their fall plowing.     

Hay been hauled to the barns after it had been cut, cured and baled during the
summer and early fall. Corn had to be "pulled" and hauled to the cribs, but
first the old cobs, shucks and evidence of the previous residency of field
rodents had to be cleaned out, and disposed of in by spreading the residue
over nearby pastures. Nothing was wasted. From about the first of August,
several shoats or young pigs had been put in pens, then multiple ears of
shucked corn along with bran shorts were "poured" to them, cleaning them out,
fattening them up, and getting them ready for the fall slaughter. Fresh yucca
or "bear grass" fronds were cut and stored around the walls of the smokehouse
with which to hang choice cuts of meat for the curing and smoking process.


Barrels were set in place in a pit in the ground at a 45 degree angle, to hold
the hot water, heated in wash pots. Then the whole hog carcass was dunked into
the open barrels. The scalding hot water would "set" the hair on the hogs, and
then it could be scraped off with ease with a sharp knife. The hogs were then
cut up; choice cuts were set aside for sugar curing and smoking, and others
were used to make sausage. Usually a side of the hog or "middlin" was used
that night, cutting up into frying size pieces for the evening meal, along
with hot biscuits and fresh-made ribbon cane syrup. The head was used for the
manufacture of "hogs head" cheese or souse, considered a delicacy by some. The
smoking and curing process would take about two to three weeks for the hams
and shoulders and then the butchery season was over for another year. 

Peanuts had been pulled and stored in a vacant crib in the barn. When a fall
rainy spell came along it was time for all the kids to bundle up and adjourn
to the barn for peanut pullings. These nuts were used for parching on cold
winter nights around the fireplace, and in the cooking for the holidays.   

Now it was time for the last harvest, and that was the sugar cane crop and it
was syrup making time. Before natural gas became the prime source of heat for
the syrup mills, there was a need for several huge piles of pine knots which
could be found in profusion and gathered from all over the piney woods. These
were piled up adjacent to the syrup shed so they could be quickly grabbed to
stoke the fire underneath the syrup pan; to provide quickly needed heat.   

The syrup pan was an engineering marvel, with baffles strategically placed to
provide a smooth flow of raw juice from one end and side to it's exit as the
finished syrup product on the opposite end and side, ready to be poured up
into buckets and cans. It was the chore of the syrup maker to keep the cooking
juice constantly on the move, lest it scorch and ruin the whole batch. All the
while maintaining a "skimming" operation to remove the pulp from the ground
cane stalks, and dross or impurities which boiled to the top. To maintain a
ready supply of juice for the pan the grinding operation had to maintain a
steady pace. The grinder was powered by a horse or mule going round and round
in the same circle  The horse was tethered to the end of a long pole that
dictated the circle in which the animal turned. A  pair  of rollers were
clamped together and geared to turn by the turning motion of whatever
propelled them. Feeding stalks of freshly  peeled and harvested cane into the
grinder insured a constant supply of fresh juice for the syrup making
operation. Kids enjoyed drinking the fresh juice out of an old tin cup, but
they didn't enjoy fighting the aggravating yellow jackets that went with the
territory. This was usually the last of the harvest operations in the fall. 

Increasing frequency of flights of geese and ducks signaled that winter was
about to wrap the countryside in its icy grip. The trees were totally nude
now, stark against the winter skies, having deposited their yearly crop of
leaves. It was time to fill the woodbox and chop splinters with which to start
the early morning fires. As you walked through the darkness settling in, the
cheery warm glow of the kitchen emanating through the gloom seemed to make you
walk a trifle faster, much like a moth to a flame. Then you were through the
door, and the smell of fresh fried ham, hot biscuits and the warmth of the
cook stove settled over you like a warm blanket. It was a relief that this day
was almost done.    

That's the way it was, once upon a loving time in the Deep South and homeà     
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
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                                     Grass Roots and Cockle Burrs              
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