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Barefoot In The Sand: Remembering the Waning Days of the Hopewell Community (1998) Bruce C. Gragg 109/123

PLANTING SWEET POTATOES

Not all the growing up experiences were fun and games. We had to
start working various chores around the farmstead early. One of the
several staple crops we grew regularly was sweet potatoes. Papa would
plant a bed of potatoes to grow slips or draws, potato sprouts, after
they grew for a while and had time to start their own roots we would
pull them and plant them in the field. The field most often used to
plant them was the one closest to the house or the pecan field as we
often called it. After they had been cultivated a while and the vines
grew to be 3-4 feet long, papa early in the morning would cut the
vines into about 18 inch long pieces. He would lay them out to get
tough. Late in the afternoon we would go "stick them out." Farmers by
necessity invented the practice of recycling. A worn out broom
handle, made an excellent stick out instrument. Cut the worn-out
broom off, taper the end and cut a notch in it. We had two of these
devices. One was old and had been in the weather, so the top end was
not comfortable to hold. Vera was the biggest and oldest, hence she
could do more, so she got the good stick. I was determined that I was
going to get the better one. After a fuss had been made, papa told me
to give her the good one. The way he would tell you to do something
made you do what he said. I took the good stick to her, rather than
give it to her I cracked her on the elbow with it. She went to papa
crying. He had a handful of toughened vines, he proceeded to give my
lower rear a good visiting by the vines, really he kinda tore my butt
up! I never did argue about it when he said to or not to do something
again. Once was enough for him to make his point. We did (mostly
Vera) get the 'taters stuck out that afternoon. The sweet potatoes
from the mother vines were called "Mamie", because they had come from
the vines from the bed. With a longer growing season, they were
usually bigger, and heavier for their size, than those from the cut
vines plants. They were especially good baked, the juices would cook
out and turn into a syrup on the skin. Cold baked tater and a link of
smoked sausage, on the way to the field to work would get anyone
going. We could get by on a big slice of fried cured ham if there was
nothing else to eat. When we had ice to keep it I could finish off a
quart of milk as a side order. If there was no smoked sausage and
tater, then a cold cat head biscuit with a hole poked in it, (you
wallow out a big hole inside the biscuit, to hold more syrup) filled
with homemade sugar cane syrup, would also give a kid a good sendoff
to the field. That is somekind of good eating, any leftovers always
tasted better when eaten on the run. Any of this was just an
afternoon snack to tide us for field duty and until supper. Good
baking sweet potatoes will emit a bit of syrup while baking and it
will char on the skin and is pealed away when eaten. But if some
didn't get charred it was so sweet and gummy, almost like chewing on
chewy candy. Sweet

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