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Barefoot In The Sand: Remembering the Waning Days of the Hopewell Community (1998) Bruce C. Gragg 87/123

the collard plant every few days. It did last a few more months and
got a bit taller, before dying of "old age." Collards, need to have a
frost before they begin to taste really good, this plant had lived
through about three winters, and it had provided some of the leaves
for cooking for a long time.

The most pleasure came after I was old enough to begin gathering
vegetables in the morning. I would pick fresh dew laden, crisp okra,
tomatoes squash and cucumbers etc., and rub the sand off on overalls
or blue jeans and eat it right there. That’s when they taste
absolutely their best! The drudgery came in the form of having to
pick butterbeans from little plants only about 18 inches tall or pole
beans. We didn’t grow much sweet corn in the garden, most was grown
in the main fields, for the quantity we planted there wasn’t enough
space in the garden. Mom had quite a scare once when we were all
picking butterbeans. As she was squatting by a plant she glanced down
on the ground under herself and there was a moccasin, coiled up
laying eggs. She didn’t panic, slowly raised up and stepped back,
with a hoe hastily provided, the snake was quickly disposed of, not
to interfere again. The big cypress pond was very close by so we
always had to be on the look out for such critters. It was shelter
for other vermin that would feast in our garden, many of which we
were never able to catch while making their raids. We encountered a
lot of snakes, not all were of the poisonous variety. Many we
actually considered to be farm friendly and we tried to protect them.

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