When Corn Was King
L-R Alifair, Mamaw Donie, Elmer (my dad), Woodrow, Grandpa Drew, Addie
This is my father's family from Leslie County, Ky. Well, it's the start of the family. There were 6 more to follow. Marcus, Nancy, Dorothy, Edward. Two children died as infants-Allisee and Edna Mae. Many famlies in that era had a lot of children- help to raise corn. A lot of corn. Corn fed the hogs, cows, chickens, mules. And corn fed the family-corn on the cob, grits, hominy, and my favorite, cornbread. Of course, there was a garden- green beans, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, cabbage. But corn was king.
I remember so many stories about raising corn- how all the children would be out grubbing up new ground on a steep hillside. Not good to keep the soil together after a heavy rain. But there was only so much bottom land. And then you would have to look up to the hillside for more corn. Corn rows from the creek to the top of the mountain. And steep. They said that steers were better to work the land. Their cloven hooves would stick to the hillside better. And there were stories of how "so and so" fell out of his garden one day. So steep you could scrape your nose going up. One old timer said that when you took the mules up the hill for work you would have to "bag 'em". That is, you would have to put a bag behind their butt hole so that poop wouldn't hit you in the face as you went up the mountain! Now, that's steep!
My aunts would tell how they would wear bonnets around their head and stocking hose on their arms to stay lily white. To be lilly white was the hallmark of beauty in those days. A few years ago I met some girls that still lived in a family that believed in corn. They had a hoe for each child in the family. They even had a hoe for guests who came to visit! The girls would complain saying, "Oh, daddy, please let it go for today. We want to go to the tanning bed!" He replied, " I got your sun bed for you."
But there were times you would get a break from hoeing out the corn field. When the corn got high enough to shade out the weeds you could "lay it by". You could leave off hoeing. The corn was mature enough. It would make good corn now. You could take a break. You could "lay it by" until harvest.
I have been thinking a lot about "laying it by". I am retired and it is getting hard for me to go out and find and work playing jobs. Travel is harder. Can't live a life on the road anymore. And I did about 30 years in the school system doing folk songs, dances, and games. I have done a plenty. Maybe time to "lay it by". I have to pace myself more.
I have been listening to some banjo from an African American banjoist named Dink Roberts- listening to how he would play a riff on the banjo and sing around that riff. He would not play a tune, then sing the same tune with lyrics. He would do a repeated riff and sing something around it- much like you would hear in rock and roll. So here is a song I wrote inspired by his playing. "Lay it By"
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