The Whiskey Papers #11 - Frank

There is a person I revere.  I always called him Grandpa.  He barely had two pennies to rub together, but he knew a few things about living well.  Grandpa had the best smelling smokehouse.  The pasture had no small number of free-range hickory trees.  If the supply of hickory went low in the smokehouse, you simply collected some more when you brought the cows up for milking.  Between the smokehouse and the house stood a brick building we called the washhouse because that is where we kept the washing machine and tubs.  We also had the cream separator there and several years of home-canned vegetables.  Below was the root cellar where potatoes were stored. The third building was the outhouse.  It was a two-holer.  No further explanation required.

As obvious as the smokehouse was, the washhouse held some secrets.  Grandpa had experience taking hogs apart.  He could also cure what he cut.  Some of the best hams and bacon...

As a youngster, I was taught how the make Grandpa's tea for when he worked the fields.  This is long, hot work when all you have is a 50-year-old Johnny Two-popper.  Grandpa liked his iced tea strong and sugary.  In a half gallon pitcher, you dumped a ton of instant tea and several pounds of sugar.  (I exaggerate for effect.)  You never filled the Thermos completely full.  For the better part of ten years, Grandpa liked how I made the tea.  I must have been 13 or 14 when Grandpa showed me the final missing ingredient.  If you went to the root cellar and moved the second bag of potatoes and felt behind the first, you would find an old brown jug.

They also made plum wine in a barrel in the root cellar.

No, I do not judge Grandpa for his old brown jug.  He lived a hard life, but he always offered three hots and a cot.  While I hated weeding the potatoes, I never missed a chance to pick the sweet corn because I certainly pick one, shuck it and eat it before it ever saw a table.  I am sure Grandpa did so too when he needed something to get him to dinner.

God Bless You, Grandpa.