[ponygirl]

My dad told stories about setting dynamite off in the field during 4th of July and Christmas. And I made him give me all the details of barning tobacco and hog killing season to put in my genealogy files. My father's older sister and my grandmother were the "loopers," my dad and his two brothers were the "hangers," my father being the highest in the barn because he was the oldest, and my grandfather took care of the wood splitting and flue fire. Various uncles, cousins and neighbors were also involved. It sounded like awful work and he hated it.

I've noticed on my visits back there that the tobacco barns have mostly been torn down. I guess those who are still growing tobacco (fewer and fewer every year) cure them in big tractor trailers.

[ponygirl]

Wow, sorry about the triplicate. Going to bed now. 🫥

[Sobieski at Kahlenberg Mtn.]

My grandfather eventually left farming, learned a trade and became a pipefitter due to the cyclical nature of farming and the fact that family was involved in running the farm complicating the matter, too many chiefs not enough Indians so to speak.

When I was a kid I would visit an uncle who lived in the Wilmington area. He had a neighbor who raised hogs. My cousins, the farmers kids and I were all the same age. The summer before graduating we killed a hog and prepared it for a pig picking. Did it by hand mostly no machine involved. That was a job. Made you appreciate farmers and those that raised hogs.