Sweet Tater Patch

We moved from the negro quarters in east Jackson County to the western fringe of the Race Pond Community the last week of December, 1950. The closest neighbor to the north was Mr. Leon Stephens, his nephew Ralmon Stephens, and his wife Mrs. Blondie and their four children. The closest neighbor to the south was Daddy's oldest brother, Uncle Leon Gilley and his family.

Daddy was working at the Jim Woodruff Dam over on the Apalachicola River. He was working from forty to sixty hours a week and had very little time for fishing. He certainly did not have time to plow the fields or garden with a mule. He contracted with Uncle Leon to do his farming on halves. Uncle Leon had tractors and the equipment to farm the modern way, Daddy provided the guano (fertilizer) and seeds and Uncle Leon and his sons did the work.

Our mule, ole Adder was a big mule and ate a lot of corn and hay and we had to tote many buckets of water out to the barn every day. Daddy hated to waste anything and decided to sell ole Adder as he would not be doing any more plowing. I do not think Daddy gave much thought to gardening; he did not like doing it in the first place. He figured with all that overtime money he was making, we could just buy our vegetables. At the time he sold ole Adder I don't think he fully realized, if you live out in the country you must have a garden. I do not think he and Mama discussed the issue, Daddy did not consult Mama on everything. Daddy washed his hands of plowing all together, either in the fields or in the garden.

Mama did not get that memo or message. She was born in the country, and all her life she had a good garden. Granddaddy Willie always had a nice garden with plenty of vegetables and Mama was accustomed to that good life. Mama just kept on buying seeds and stuff we needed to plant a garden. After some time she realized Daddy was not going to take the initiative, and make arrangements for planting a garden. One day Mama told me to go up and borrow Mr. Leon Stephens's ole grey mule, Alex to start a garden. We still had some plowing equipment: a scoter stock, turning plow, planters,guano (fertilizer) bumper and other stuff, we just did not have a mule to pull these plows. I had walked along behind the planter, holding it upright, helping Daddy plant the corn. I had walked behinda joehire, keeping it from plowing up the peanuts, but get the grass and weeds out. In every case Daddy was always nearby to help, when I needed it. I was not a seasoned, master planter in any sense of speaking. I had watched Daddy, Granddaddy and others plow the fields and garden and knew what needed to be done, but never had that responsibility, on my own.

Larry, Jerry and I did as Mama had instructed. We went down to Mr. Leon's house and told him we wanted to borrow ole Alex, to plow our garden. I heard Mr. Leonkinda snicker to himself and say"Yes sir you can" and he led us out to the barn and helped put the bridle, collar and gear on Alex. As he put on each piece he showed us how to do it, and