1944 #2

Saturday night.  Moma and Daddy going to town tonight.  I will go to Dad and Ma M. house for the evening.  After we eat the three of us will gather round the battery powered radio.  Amos and Andy, the Grand Ole Opery.  The kersone lamps are on.  Siting in the rocking chair on the back porch.  Another fine evening.

As I said my Dad is a share croper.  He grows crops for cash.  Some cows, one for milk for the house.  Some pigs, and of course horses to do the farming with.  A garden for the house.  In the fall he would butcher a hog.  From this Moma and Daddy would make pork(seasoned) sausage form the meat into patties.  Fry the patties in pork fat then put the patties into Mason jars pour pork fat over the patties until it filled the jar.  Then seal the jar, place the jar into boiling water until the top of the lid sucked in a little.  The jars were then placed into storage.  We had pork sausage for most of the year.  Moma canned a lot of vegetables also, minus the pork fat.  Bacon and hams were salted and cured in the smoke house.  Cuts of fat were taken to Dad and Ma M. who had also butchered a hog, these cuts of fat were combined and it was time to make soap.  The fat was placed in a large kettle in the yard.  A fire was built under the kettle, when the fat reached the right temperture lye as added and mixed in.  This mixture was allowed to cool.  Then cut into bars, this was our laundry soap, bathing soap,    cleaning soap.  There was another kettle used to make our shorting.  Pure pork fat was rendered, allowed to cool then put into cans to use in cooking.  These were done on different days because it was a rather under taking.  Also the other farm work had to be done, milk the cow, feed the horses, and pigs, chickens. 

All of these things were normal for me.
Pappy