Sugar Grove
By Paula Mitchell
In the early days, the sparse population was thinly scattered in remote hollows and mountainous areas. During this era, the inhabitants had to be self-reliant, with the family working together to seek self-sufficiency.
The nearest store was often 10 miles away, serving as the center of bartering goods. Due to the remoteness, the general stores often had to charge considerably more for bulky goods because of the high cost of transportation. Therefore, sugar, coffee, salt and other items cost several cents more per pound than in more established stores on the regular freight routes.
As a result, the settler sought to create substitutes for them. For example, because sugar was so expensive, the maple trees were tapped with the liquid boiled down to a syrup or into maple sugar. Acorns or rye were roasted and then ground and used instead of imported teas. Pepper was replaced by the spicy stems of the nasturtium.
Apples were pared, quartered and dried; peaches, blueberries, pears, cherries and other fruit were dried for the winter. Apple butter was boiled. Apples were pressed into cider, and honey combs were made into metheglin for drink.
For a supply of meat to supplement pork, men took to seeking bear, deer, groundhog, rabbit, coon, and squirrel. Besides the meat from the hog, sausage was ground, ponhos was made, and the lard rendered for cooking, and for the use of soap, candles, and greasing ailing children.
Life in these hills wasn’t easy, but somehow people learned to be survivors. Actually, most folk in this area are still capable of surviving any calamity, today.
Life’s daily instructions include the following:
- Spoil one’s wife, not one’s children.
- Be especially courteous and patient with older people.
- Remember that a kind word goes a long way.
- Stay humble
- Support one’s local organizations.
Joys for the week:
Much needed rains fell, causing the rivers and creeks to rise. A breath of colder weather blasted through the neighborhood, with a note for cold to endure the rest of this week. It’s winter! As a result, many folks have left up their Christmas lights for all to enjoy long past the new year. Perhaps it will remind one of the peace and joy that reigned during the season…bottling it up a little longer.
This week’s quotes are as follows:
“Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and a body ain’t got no business doing wrong when he ain’t ignorant and knows better.” — Huckleberry Finn
“One of the most cowardly things ordinary people do is to shut their eyes to facts.” — C.S. Lewis
“There will come a time when the rich own all the media and it will be impossible for the public to make an informed opinion.” — Albert Einstein (about 1949)
“It’s only with gratitude that life becomes rich.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“January is here, with eyes that keenly glow, a frost-mailed warrior striding a shadowy steed of snow.” — Edgar Fawcett.
Definitely sit by the fireplace to hear the “Talk of the Grove.”
Glad to hear that Evelyn Varner’s surgery proved successful. She is home with doctor’s orders to not pick up anything heavy.
Terri Grogg and Claude Castleberry, and Marleta Wimer have been rotating time, well spent, with their mother, Rosalee Grogg.
Clickety-clacks for the chin waggers are as follows:
- High-wire acts have been enjoyed since the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans.
- Androphobia is fear of men.
- In Alabama, there is a law on the town’s books against riding down the street in a motorboat.
- Toronto’s original name was York, but it had another name long before that. The area near the shores of Lake Ontario was called “the meeting place” by the Ojibway of Southern Ontario. Their word: Ontario.
- The main library at Indiana University sinks more than an inch every year because, when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.
Here are the remainder of the January birthdays: Cyrena Harper and Danny Wilburn, 16th; Wayne Price, 18th; Andy Hott Collins, 19th; Cary Hevener and Zion Brubeck, 20th; Cathryn Eye and Noah Nelson, 21st; Jackie Smith and John Dorsey, 22nd; Charles Kiser, 24th; Myra Mitchell and Scott Rightsell, 25th; Violet Eye and Sue Ann Sites, 26th; Marion Williams, Brandon Simmons and Jarod Nelson, 27th; Jamie Hoover, 28th; Jimmy McCormick, 30th; and Jamie Watson, 31st.
Concerns for this week are many, and they are as follows: Bob Adamson, Charles and “Pidge” Anderson, Roger and Joan Ashley, Mercedes Aumann, Lynn Beatty, “Bo” Boggs, Dewayne Borror, Jane Conrad, Marie Cole, Norma Propst Cunningham, Christian Dasher, Isaac Eye, Marie Eye, Mary Eye, Neal Eye, Loralee Gordon, Lola Graham, Jordan Greathouse, Patsy Green, Rosalee Grogg, Marlene Harman, Marvin Hartman, Steve and Armanda Heavner, Grace Hedrick, George Hevener, Jackie Hill, Edsel and May Ann Hogan, Virgil Homan, Jr., Adelbert Hoover, Myrtle Hoover, Debbie and Enos Horst, Mike Jamison, Jessica Janney, Alice Johnson, Richard Judy, Marsha Keller, Danny Kimble, the Linda Weaver Kimble family, Dennis Kincaid, Kim Kline, Tracie Knight, Melissa Lambert, Robert Lambert, Rex Landis, Roger and Skip Mallow, Yvonne Marsh, Anna Mauzy, Neil McLaughlin, Rose Miller, Bruce Minor, Tom Mitchell, Barbara Moats, Aaron Nelson, Ruth Nelson, Cheryl Paine, Alda Propst, John O. Propst, Kathy Propst, the Harley Propst family, Sheldon Propst, Charles Rexrode, Jason Rexrode, Pam Rexrode, Donna Ruddle, Annie Simmons, Phyllis Simmons, Erin Simmons, Eva Simmons, Kent Simmons, Robbie Sites, Donnie Smith, Steve Stump, Rosa Tichenor, Sandra Vandevander, Evelyn Varner, Raymond Varner, Amy Vaus, Judy Williams and Margaret Wimer.
