Pick'n Blackberries

Back in yesteryear, food was food. There weren't choices.......there was just food if you could find it. Wild, edible foods were picked with delight and thanksgiving. Blackberries were no exception. They were free, delicious, and could be eaten fresh, cooked, or made into pies, cobbler, jams, jelly, preserves. It took a lot of individual berries to make a gallon, but it was worth the effort.

Some of the hazards of blackberry pick'n were: chiggers (red bugs), snakes, thorns, and wasp nest, just to name a few. Most people tried to do their pick'n early in the morning while the weather was cool. A gallon of fresh berries would get a boy about 75 cents if he was lucky.

An Outrage

It's an outrage............a billboard on top of Mount Rushmore!!

Actually the photo is a special effects photo. The photographer took a picture of Mount Rushmore and made a 8 X 10 print of it. Then he took a photo of a license plate on a car that said "Eat More Possum" and made a 4 X 6 print of it. He then cut out the "Eat More Possum" sign out with a pair of sissors. Next he put the "Eat More Possum" cut-out on top of the Mount Rushmore 8 X 10 and reshot the photo to make the one that you see with this narrative.

Shaving Brush and Mug

Years ago, shaving the hair on your face was a little different than it is today. There were no electric shavers, or safety shaving kits, etc. Men had a mug (see photo) with soap and water in it. They also had a brush to spread the mixture on their face. This mixture of soap and water made their straight razor glide smoothly over their face to avoid cuts. It also eased the painful scratching that the razor would cause without the mixture.

Surgical Instruments

If you needed surgery back in yesteryear, you were in for some real pain. Even the instruments looks like things out of a torcher chamber. Some even looked like they came from the local butcher shop. However, if you needed surgery, you needed surgery, and that was that. You took the pain hoping for better days ahead. Aren't you glad that God has blessed us with more modern less invasive surgery today?

A Woman's Book Of Suggestions For Being Frugal

Red Book and Good Housekeeping ain't got nothing on the women of the past when it comes to being interested in being frugal. Just look at the date on the book in the photo. Some of the suggestions in the book are just as applicable as today as they were back then. General policies were: waste not, want not; repair and fix everything; throw nothing away that can be used again as is or in another form; borrow things but always pay back. Not bad ideas for us today.

Herb Slicer

Back in yesteryear, people grew a lot of their own herbs. That's just the way it was. Anything that you could make or grow was done that way. Money was scarce. Some herbs needed to be mashed, sliced, and/or crushed to be in a useful form for seasoning and cooking. That's where the device in the photo came into play. It is a herb slicer and was found in most country kitchens. You won't find this item in todays kitchen. Our herbs come in bottles, zip lock bags, plastic containers, and you name it.

Governor Jimmie Davis As A Gospel Singer

Jimmie Davis is remembered for two main things............a Louisiana Governor, and a great gospel singer. As a singer, his voice was mellow and clear. His back-up singers were called the Anita Curr Singers. His piano player was Drew Shaw who also played piano at the First Baptist Church in Baton Rouge. He made several albums of gospel songs. One of his most popular songs was called "When They Ring Those Golden Bells For You And Me." It was one of those "tear jerkers" that you never forgot once you heard it. He also recorded a hit record called "You Are My Sunshine". It was his number one big hit. It has gone down in musical history as a classic, and is still sung by popular artist today.

Hayrack

There were always a few "racks" around the farm. They were used to keep whatever off the floor so as not to get wet and rot. Anything could be p;laced on them: tools, hay, equipment, whatever.

Old Fashioned Flower Garden

Gardens have been ingrained into the hearts of mankind since the "garden of Eden". They represent beauty, system, order, and simplicity. The garden in the photo is a riot of color, a mixing of specie, a scene of tranquility. Looks like a good place to read a good book and eat some hot oatmeal-rasin cookies. Come join me.

Takeing Time To Appreciate Beauty

People of yesteryear seemed to live at a slower pace in some ways. They appreciated the colors of a sunset, the mystery of a cloud pattern, the beauty of a feather, and the designs of flowers. This photo shows backlighting on a lily. Simple, elegant, and beautiful. Let's get back to those days.

Squirrel Sign

People used to hunt squirrels as much as they hunt deer today. It was a fun sport trying to find and shoot these crafty little animals. Before the season opened men would go into the woods and look for "squirrel sign". There were lots of sign to signal that squirrels were present and active in an area. One of those sign indicators was the eating of hickory nuts(see photo). A squirrel did not have to open a hickory nut entirely to pick out the meat of the nut. Their claws and teeth did that. If a hickory tree was especially heavily laden with nuts, the ground would be littered with nut droppings from squirrel eating activity. What did that mean to a hunter? Just slip up to that tree before dawn, sit quitely, and wait for the squirrels to come to you. Sometimes you could get your limit from just one tree.

Collecting Moths and Butterflies

Back in the old days, lots of kids collected moths and butterflies as a hobby or science project. There were lots of them: monarchs, swallowtails, cabbage, spicebush, and many more.........too many to mention by name. There were special butterfly nets manufactured back then. The trick was to stand very still around a flower bed and wait for a butterfly or moth that you wanted flew up to feed. Then is a fast sweeping motion try to catch the critter in the net. It wasn't as easy as it sounds. There was a lot more trying than catching.

Fresh Water Muscles and Muscle Shells

Fresh water muscles have been gathered and eaten for many years. Racoons are especially fond of them. The ones in the photo are small compared to some that are located in freshwater creeks. Those get to be the size of a glass coaster. Although it takes a lot of strength to open a big muscle..........they are no match for a racoon. They can open them as quick as a wink.

Muscle and oyster shells were often crushed for use as a type of mortar. Oyster shell mortar was called "tabby". Most of the old Spanish forts in Florida are made of this material. Muscle shell mortar was less common, but used from time to time.

Wood Latch

Back in yesteryear, anything that could be made at home was made at home. Buying anything was a "last resort". Sooooooooo, latches were made of wood. Just find a tree sapling that was the right size, cut and fashion to taste, and you have your latch. Not rocket science, but did the trick. Latches were a type of lock to keep critters inside or out.

Beaver Dams

Back in American "mountain man" times, beaver hides were in demand for top hats in England. Beavers in America were hunted and trapped nearly into extinction. When the top hat went out of style, the demand for beavers dropped accordingly. People quit hunting and trapping beavers and the specie made an amazing come-back. Now we are seeing beaver dams once again.

The beaver is a very good engineer when it comes to dam building. Without a computer, an engineering degree, or building tools, they build an effective water dam. Just a few limbs, sticks, twigs, and some mud, and they have themselves a dam.
Not bad!!

Running Trap Lines In A Pirogue

In the Bayou country of Louisiana, Frenchmen made a living by hunting, trapping, and fishing. The low country of the State was full of small streams, lakes, ponds, bayous, and oxbows. This situation required a craft that would float in shallow water..................the pirogue was the answer. It's a lot like a canoe, but less stable. Trap lines ran as far or as short as the trapper thought necessary. They trapped beaver, racoon, nutria, muskrat, and many other fur bearing animals. Fishing from a pirogue was great. You could get into the most shallow water to catch bass, bream, crappie, and catfish. Yesireeeee, the pirogue was the craft of choice........still is!

Coon Hunting

Not too many years ago, coon hunting was as big a sport as deer hunting is today. People had dogs that were especially trained to hunt coons, and were very good at it. A coon is a smart critter and good at outsmarting dogs on and off the ground. Coons knew where every hollow tree and log was located. They knew that dogs could not track them in water, and they knew that one dog alone was no match for them one-on-one. Coon hunts could be a one man activity or one for many men at one time.

Storeside Advertising

In the 1900's just about evey country store had storeside advertising on one or more of its sides (see photo). Some of the just common advertisers were: Coca Cola, tobacco companies, medication producers, and farm product producers. They were suppose to remind you of their product as you approached the store. That was suppose to create "impulse" buying of their product. Must of worked to some degree, because it was "the way" to advertise back then. You don't see many of those old storeside advertisements anymore............better photograph them while you can.

Weird Tree Shapes

People who frequented the woods back in the old days were aware of every twig, tree, vine, leaf, and stump. All of these were signs that told them of life as it was in the forest. People also appreciated the art forms of these items and told others about them. The photo shows a part of a tree that looks like a pregnant woman!!! What made it take this shape? Your're guess is as good as anyone else's. Maybe, it's just God expressing His sense of humor.

Feeding Trough

You couldn't just go to the feed and seed store and buy a metal feeding and/or watering trough back in the old days. If you wanted such a piece of equipment, you made it. The one in the photo was hacked out with a axe, hatchet, and hunting knife. Looks pretty goods! Sometimes the trough was placed on logs at both ends to get it off the ground. That helped keep it from rotting so quickly. This was a common item around farms, homes, and livestock holding pens. They were usually made of white oak is used for watering. Otherwise.............any old tree would do.