By the time Thanksgiving rolled around in the 1950s, most peanuts had been picked, though that didn’t end the labor-intensive crop’s cycle.

Since the 1970s, peanut combines — first ones that were towed and, later, self-propelled behemoths — have picked peanuts directly from the ground where the vines had been dug and inverted to begin drying. The combines spread peanut vines behind them as they go, and they are turned back to the soil in the perpetual cycle. 

Seventy years ago, stationary pickers were still in use as they had been for decades since their invention in the early 20th century. Shocks of peanuts were hauled to the picker and pitch-forked into the front. From there, the picker shredded the vines, and peanuts were pulled off to be captured, first in burlap bags and later in conveyors that carried them to a waiting truck.

The vines were spewed out the back of the picker and piled in 10- to 12-foot stacks behind the picker, and those piles had to be removed after the peanuts were long gone.

A good part of the vine residue was shoveled or forked into a manure spreader and spread back on the land to provide some nutrient value — and to get rid of a huge pile of vines.

We saved a portion of the vines and hauled them to the barnyard, where they were forked, once again, into a barn. They became forage with some food value during the winter as well as bedding for animals during cold weather.

There were also hundreds of peanut poles to be stored. The peanut poles had been erected in peanut fields and it was on them that peanuts were shocked to air dry after they were dug. When the shocks were hauled to a picker, the poles were thrown to one side in a rough pile and had to be collected, hauled to a barn and stored out of the weather so they wouldn’t deteriorate before the next fall.

When the peanut poles went into storage for another year, the peanut crop cycle had ended.

Not the farm work, of course. Most all farmers back then raised hogs. Our modest herd, which rarely had more than 10 or 11 sows, was scheduled as best we could to farrow new pigs in late summer after the crops were laid by to await harvest, and in late winter. That meant pigs born in late summer were fattening hogs by the time the peanut crop was picked and sold. 

Corn that had been picked in late September and October had to be hauled to a grain mill, of which there were several in the area, to be ground and mixed with feed supplements to hasten the growth of hogs and get them to market. The goal was to have hogs to market in six or seven months, though in those days the growth period tended to be longer rather than shorter.

We had portable, unheated farrowing houses, each set up to accommodate two sows and their litters. The houses were lean-to’s that were built on skids and could be moved from place to place. In the summer, we tried to keep them in a shady woods edge, and in winter brought them close to the house where the animals could receive more immediate attention during inclement weather.

Thanksgiving was a nice break from the late fall work. We managed to take a couple of days off to hunt rabbits or deer before diving into winter preparations for livestock as well as humans.

We humans generally had to wait in line for livestock needs before we were taken care of. When we got around to us, we tacked plastic over rattly windows to block winter winds. We also helped our mother roll up the “summer rug” made of reeds that covered the living room floor, and replaced it with a heavy wool rug that was awfully comfortable on our feet during the winter.

Windows received further treatment. Light, cotton curtains were taken down, washed, folded and packed away until spring, and heavy, lined drapes were installed. They could be closed to block more cold air from entering.

With on-farm and in-the-house chores completed, we were ready to think about Christmas, which by then was only a few weeks hence.

 

John Edwards is publisher emeritus of The Smithfield Times. His email address is j.branchedwards@gmail.com.