Pa had a big stockyard joining the barn where they shucked corn. He grew lots of corn and squash to feed the horses, cattle, and pigs in the winter. We raised turkeys and geese and would pick the geese for down, for pillows, twice during the summer. Chicken feathers and corn shucks were used for mattresses or ticks for the beds.
We grew melons, peaches, grapes, and cane. I remember stripping and topping the cane in preparation for making molasses. I have fed the cane to the molasses mill and stirred the juice in the big vats while it was cooking. Pa would take the good skimmings to make candy, which we poured into big wooden boxes. We would keep a hammer and chisel there to break off a chunk to eat.
When the molasses would reach a certain state, Pa would have us put well washed peaches in some of it, peeling and all, to make peach preserves, which was stored in 20 gallon barrels. A small hole was cut in the top, with a fitted lid, so we could get the preserves out for use.
There was a big shed where Pa stored big barrels of molasses. People came from all over the country to buy his molasses and peach preserves.
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