The Autumn season tends to stir up a lot of nostalgia for how things used to be done in the country. Back in my grandparents and their parent’s day our society was predominately rural, and folks lived on subsistence farms growing and processing much of their own food and animal feed to support large families. Fall was a particularly busy time of year when many crops, fruits, and vegetables matured and needed storing or processing for use during the rest of the year. It made sense to help each other with the large quantity of crops that came in. This also made what was often a long and monotonous task more pleasant because it then became a social event where folks could visit and pass the time catching up on news which mostly involved the local neighborhood, since this was before television and smart phones that bring world events to your fingertips. It was a simpler time that modern folk find appealing in these hectic modern times.

Here are some of the farm activities that were done socially with neighbors. Several can still be seen demonstrated at Fall Festivals.

Molasses stir-off: Sorghum cane was grown as a row crop and fed into a sorghum mill powered by a horse or mule to squeeze out the sweet sap. The sap was then boiled down in a large pan over a wood fire to make the syrup-like molasses. The term stir-off comes from the fact that the sap had to be stirred regularly to keep it from burning during the boiling process. This boiling down was often done at night and was when friends would gather and help or just visit.

Apple Cider Making: Every farm back in the day had an apple orchard because apples not only provided a sellable product, they were popular for making sweet tasting cider and dried apples for making pies and other dishes. Making large quantities of cider involved the use of a cider mill, a hand operated device that ground apples into a pulpy mass called pomace. This was then placed in a screw operated press to squeeze out the juice, which could be canned for used as juice or allowed to ferment to make hard cider or apple vinegar. The process of making cider and peeling and coring apples to make dried apples was easier done with some help.

Apple Butter: This fabulous biscuit topper was made by processing apples into large quantities of apple sauce and then further cooking it down to a thicker and sweeter consistency called butter. The boiling down was done in a big kettle over an open fire that required constant stirring with a long handled wooden paddle. To keep the apple slurry from burning the bottom of the kettle, silver dollars were dropped in to scrap the bottom while stirring. It’s a long process involving several hours of boiling, and so the work of stirring was traded off among helpers.

Corn husking: many acres of corn was raised to feed cattle. After ripening it was allowed to dry in the field and then the corn ears were collected and most stored in a corn crib to be fed during the year. There were also “corn husking bees” where neighbors would come help husk and shell (remove the kernels) corn for use for animal feed or to be ground into cornmeal for human consumption.

Other chores that involved friends helping and socializing were cracking walnuts and quilting bees. These farm events provided an opportunity for mountain families who were isolated on spread out homesteads with only a horse for transportation to help and stay connected with each other.