A working farm in Cumby, Texas

I was blessed as a child to spend summers on my great-grandparents farm in Tennessee, near Pigeon Forge outside of Gatlinburg, less then two miles from The Great Smoky mountains.  They had a farmhouse on the side of a mountain that they built after they were married in the early 1900's.  They cleared the land and had a self sustaining life in the hills- without electricity, running water, a bathroom, radio, cable, internet, satellite, a cell phone (or any phone), or even a TV.  

They ran dairy cattle, mules, working draft horses, hogs, chickens and other birds, cats, and hunting dogs.  They raised their own food, slaughtered their animals for meat, the cows provided milk, buttermilk, butter and cheese, planted and harvested crops, canned fruits, berries, and vegetables, had a smokehouse to hang their meat, and more.  They hunted weekly and cooked everything from scratch daily.

They had an outhouse, hand pumped water from a spring-fed well, heated water on the wood stove to cook and clean, had a tin roof that sounded amazing when it rained, used fans inside to cool themselves, or sat on swings on the big covered front porch to get some relief from the summer heat and humidity.  These were simple people during simple times and I loved every minute of being there.

As a child, I didn't have to wear shoes when I arrived at the farm.  They always purchased me a new pair of overalls that were made into shorts that I wore everyday.  My uncle Olin would make me a new whip every summer out of leather and a stick that I got to choose.  I would use this "whip" to move cows from the night pasture to the day pasture, making the daily stop at the milking barn every morning and night.

I hand milked cows in the barn, fed the chickens and birds, and gathered eggs, sometimes all the way up near the roof in the rafters of the barn.  I helped harvest berries, fruit, and vegetables.  I spent the hot summer days with my brother and cousins running through the pastures barefoot when our chores were done.  We would run down to the creek to play, occasionally encountering a snake along the way.  The creek was always cool, almost cold coming from the mountains above.  The water was clear and the creek was filled with smooth, round rocks.  The creek wasn't deep enough to swim or skip rocks.  It was just deep enough to lay down and get cooled off before we ran off on our next adventure.  Although there were plenty of bears in the area, we never ran into them.  We were told to always make lots of noise when we were out playing, so we did.  But we always found bear prints, along with other animals, everywhere.

Mornings were filled with the amazing smells of fresh hot biscuits, homemade smoked sausage patties, sausage gravy, and fried eggs every morning.  I would smoother my biscuits in fresh butter and homemade preserves, blackberry being my favorite.  My aunts would start cooking before the sun came up while my uncles were moving the cows from the night pasture behind the house, to the milking barn, milking the cows, then moving them across the creek and up the other mountain to the day pasture.

"Dinner" was what we now call "lunch".  It was the mid-day meal and consisted of leftovers from breakfast.  Usually a biscuit sandwich or biscuits with peanut butter and jelly.

"Supper" was served late at night, after all the chores were done, usually after dark.  The table would be filled with fresh sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, ears of corn, bowls of beans, and tons of other fresh vegetables that I got to choose and pick during my afternoon chores.  Meat was rare, usually only one or two meals a week, unless a chicken got hit by a passing car, or uncle John went hunting the night before.  Piping hot homemade yellow corn bread was served and more biscuits!  Bread was never served, but my aunts made the most incredible homemade buttermilk biscuits that I have ever had in my life!

The corn bread was coarse corn meal made from the corn grown right on the farm.  We spent hours picking the ears, pulling back the husks, and removing the silk.  Then it was left to dry hanging in the barn.  Dried kernels were removed from the cob by "shucking the corn", a method that included sitting on the front porch for hours and using your thumb to remove each kernel.  This was painful when I was a child.  The adults had calluses on their thumbs and could shuck the corn with ease.

After dinner I would pump water from the well and fill buckets for washing dishes.  I helped clear the table, slop the hogs, and fed the mountain cur dogs.  The pigs got the leftover vegetables, the dogs got the biscuits and meat.  I loved the dogs!

At that time in the early 1970's, the Gypsy's would come by in a horse drawn wagon filled with goods to sell.  If we had all of our chores done, we were allowed to get a treat, usually a hard candy stick or lemon drops.  If it was pay day, my uncle John would take us to the store to buy "dope" (this is what he called Coke-Cola soda because Coke-Cola used to have cocaine in it).  I got to pick my own "dope", usually an orange soda.  I loved it because it was ice cold!  We didn't have ice on the farm, or cold drinks.  On very special occasions we would make homemade ice cream- by hand!  We would go into town and buy ice, salt, and sugar, use our own milk and cream, and sit there for what seemed forever making the ice cream in a hand crank ice cream maker.  I was allowed to pick the flavor one time!  I picked peanut butter swirl! 

My Uncle John and my Aunt Myrtle had full time jobs.  My Aunt Mary and Olin worked the farm full time.   Myrtle owned and operated Robbie’s Hair Design in Sevierville until she retired in 2013, at 80 years old.  Uncle John worked for Bush's Beans- the same Bush's Best Original Baked Bean company you see today.  I was told that the Bush family is related to the Walker family.  Both of my uncles served in the military during the wars.

My aunts used to take us to Silver Dollar City on their days off.  That is what it was called before Dolly Parton bought it.  The park had water log rides, roller coasters, gun fights, glassblowing, blacksmith's, people spinning yarn, and other crafts that are gone today.  We also went to  Porpoise Island.  I loved the animal shows and feeding the porpoises.  I remember stopping to get gas and the gas station had a bear in a cage in front of the building.  I am glad they don't allow that anymore!

My great-grandmother lived to be 93 years old.  She was a small, soft-spoken fair woman.  She loved to brush my hair and take care of me.  I loved her very much.  She gave birth to nine children in her home, without electricity, heat, running water, or any medical care.  Only six children survived.  My great-grandfather passed away when I was four years old.  He was 80 years old.  I remember that he was sick for some time, and very weak.  But he was a generous man.  He always had his pockets filled with real silver dollars, and would pass them out to his great-grandchildren after we finished our chores or helped him in any way.  He always had a smile on his face and loved his family.

People today do not know a "hard days work".  They do not know what it takes to get up before the sun rises and work until after the sun goes down.  They do not know what it takes to work 7 days a week, just to make sure you have enough to make it through winter, planting in the spring, weeding and caring for your crops all summer, harvesting, canning, preserving, gathering wood for the fire, knitting, sewing clothes and blankets, drying, smoking and more.  They do not know the satisfaction of building their own home with their own hands and maintaining it.  They also do not know how satisfying it feels not have any debt and being completely self sufficient. 

Over the coming years, we will be planting fruit and nut orchards, berries, herbs, and vegetable gardens.  We will be improving our pasture and adding sheep and a couple dairy cows.  We will have chickens, ducks, geese, guineas, turkey, quail, goats, and rabbits.  We will be planting, harvesting, canning, preserving, dehydrating, and freeze drying our harvests.  Along the way we will be sharing this with others, offering homesteading classes and bringing in guest speakers and other homesteaders that currently live the lifestyle we choose to pursue.  Within 5 years we would like to be about 80% self sufficient, and 90% - 95% self sufficient within 10 years.  We will graft our own trees, save our seeds and replant, use high tunnels to prolong planting, and more.

We will have set backs along the way, learn from our mistakes, and "plow" ahead with our dream!