Every year in February it was time to start preparing the ground for planting potatoes. Red Pontiac's I think was the name of the one Daddy always planted. That was it, no other kind even got any consideration. My Papa planted those and Daddy planted those. Now my Papa was adamant that potatoes should be planted on Feb. 14. Not a day before, not a day after. Sometimes the weather permitted this sometimes it didn't but Papa would plant them in snow if he had to. Lots of other veggies were planted later at just the right time. Green peas were next.
Everyone planted by the moon signs then. A copy of The Old Farmers Almanac was purchased and that was the rule. Don't laugh, In later years I planted peas in the bloom season and that was what I got . Lots of blooms, no peas. REALLY!
I grew up listening and watching the garden grow. I knew how to plant and take care of a garden and I always loved it.
Daddy would hitch up Ol' Dixie and off he'd go up and down in the two acre plot plowing it deep and bringing up all the good moist rich dirt. Then he laid off the rows all neat and straight. It was quiet a production and I was there all the way. Took every step my Daddy and Ol' Dixie took. Ol' Dixie was a gentle horse and I loved her. Daddy would sometimes lift me up to sit on her even though I was too young to learn to ride I thought I was really in high cotton up on that horse.
One day I was with Daddy in the garden. I just loved to rake my bare feet through the fresh plowed dirt. Loved the smell of it and the feel of it. This day I was ahead of Daddy and Ol' Dixie just enjoying the dirt. I sat down in the middle of a row and was heaping dirt over one of my feet and stamping it down. Then I would very carefully pull my foot out and there was a mound of dirt. I'd stick something in the place where my foot had been and pretend it was anything I wanted it to be. All of us kids did this and it was fun we thought. Anyway this day Daddy didn't see me from behind Ol' Dixie. I was sitting right in front of Dixie when she stopped. Daddy flipped the reins and geed or hawed or whatever it was he said but Dixie would not move. Daddy was irritated. Dixie had never done this before. He flicked the reins a bit harder to let Dixie know he meant business. Well Dixie just politely stepped out of the row and started around me. Daddy was flabbergasted but relieved when he saw me. Dixie was not going to step on me. She loved me also.
Daddy had carrots in the garden always. Mama canned them with little potatoes for making soup later. One day Brenda and I decided to pull a carrot and take it to the barn for Ol' Dixie. The carrots were not ready to pull. About the size of my little finger. I pulled one and said, "Shoot fire Brenda, this aint big enough we are gonna need more". Well we pulled a "bunch" more before we thought it was enough and took off to the barn. Boy howdy now, Ol' Dixie loved her treat. Didn't take her long to eat the carrots so we decided to get her more. We ran back and forth till we had pulled almost two rows of carrots. Finally we noticed that we had almost destroyed Daddies crop of carrots and knew we were in trouble. We didn't say a word. We went down the rows and tried to fix things so no one would notice. How stupid was that?!
We just went on about our day and kinda forgot the carrot mutilation. Daddy always headed to his garden after he got home from work and had his supper. Of course he spotted the carrot destruction. There were our tracks all over the place and didn't take Daddy long to figure out who the culprits were. UH OO!! Stupid me I was with him as usual. "Clydene what in the world did you do this for" he asked. "Brenda helped me feed Ol Dixie a carrot" I said. Daddy was not happy with us at all and for good reason. He took me by the hand and we walked out the lane to Brenda's house with my Daddy talking to me all the way telling me why this was wrong. "I'll have to plant carrots again, You know better than to pull them before the grow big enough, etc. By the time we got there and Brenda got her lecture I was so ashamed. I felt horrible for what I had done, and I was sorry. I didn't get a spanking but I never did it again. Of course I knew better!
The next evening when Daddy got home Brenda and I took him out and showed him how we had filled in the rows with new seeds. He was so happy with us there were tears on his lashes which he wiped away hurriedly. We learned and grew from our mistakes whether they be big or small. We learned from wonderful loving Parents who punished us when we needed it and loved us all the time. I'm so greatful for my up-bringing way down there on that dead in road next to the RR tracks.
