Food from the Wild

On snowy days my pappa would wrap his feet and legs with burlap socks, since he could not afford boots, and he would get out his twelve-gauge and his hound. Then he would start out looking for rabbits for supper. I could hardly wait for his return. I knew when he went we would have rabbits when he came in. I would almost pray for a big kill. Sure enough, he always had from three to five rabbits.

I would grab my coat and get ready to help him skin them. I would hold their hind legs up so he could dress them clean without leaving hair on the meat. My mamma soaked them in salt water for as long as time permitted, then cut them up and fried them all at one time.

If there was too much meat for our family, Granny Adams and Grandma Bullard were sent for. They came with their lantern to light their way home after supper. They lived only a short way down the hollow.

This happened again when my pappa raised his trot lines. If he got a big catch of fish, we invited neighbors and kinfolks in. Sometimes he would catch a large buffalo fish weighing as much as forty or fifty pounds. We cooked it all at once because we had no refrigeration except the spring house, which would hold things overnight. My pappa knew he could get more fish when needed. His luck was always good.

My pappa used dough balls for bait. These were made a special way in a big iron pot with legs. My mamma took off the stove cap and fitted a pot on the eye of the stove, just as she did for greens, greenbeans, and for pork liver on hog killing day. She put just so much water and onion to flavor. When the water boiled, she stirred in the mixture of cornmeal and flour, stirring very hard. This made a type of mush.

We then gathered around the large kitchen table and divided out the dough. We each rolled balls the size of a marble. To be just right they must bounce when dropped on the floor. This was a sight.

I have often wished I had a picture of the large table which sat close to the wall with a long bench behind it for as many kids as could squeeze in. We always had as many as twelve people at one sitting.