Remembring Grandma

My grandma name was Ellen Martin . When i was young but old enough to do things . I would rush down to grandma's house early in the morning . She would be getting up to fire up the wood cook stove . She would get a piece of rich pine . (where me and her would go into the pine thickets and look for pine stumps that over time were full of rich tar that was used for kindlin) Tack a small hatchet and cut into small splinters . Take a match , light it and put it under the wood . That got the fire going . The cook stove had a basin on the side to heat water . The oven would make the best biscuits . She always had a dish of fried tators and green beans to stick between a biscuit . Oh so good . Some times she would fix grits or rice with red eye gravy . Or fry up a little tenderloin .
Grandma would make handmade quilts so rich in color . Her lady friend would come over and all start sewing on the quilt and so much story telling while they sewed .
They had a cow who was so gentle . I would watch her milk and i soon learned how to milk a cow . Now that was something to see . Grandma would take the milk and each morning skim off the rich cream that would form over the night . When she got enough cream saved , out her butter churn came . I got to churn the milk and make the yellow butter . She had a thing to put the butter in and make a pretty print on top . Grandma would sell the milk , butter and eggs to have spending money .
In the spring they would have a big garden plus acre's of corn , sugar cane for molasses , acre's of cotton to take to the Cotton Gin . That money is what got them through the hard winters back then . My grandpa worked in the sawmill later on .
In the evening's we would either set on the porch swing or out in the yard and listen to grandpa play the Harmonica . Also we all would have contest and see who would fart the longest and laugh so hard you would want to roll on the ground . Oh! those were the days .
After i grew up my Grandmother was the one person i could set and talk to . She actually would sit and listen and give sound advice to me . I never could talk to my Mother like that . Don't know why just couldn't .

Written by Wayne