Over the river and through the woods...

to grandmother's house we go...

by David Shannon

Although it is generally a seasonal song, my family often sung the first few lines of this song as we traveled a narrow dirt road over several steep ridges to go to my paternal grandparents. The most anticipated trip of the year would begin at 4:30 a.m. on a cold winter morning. The one time of the year when school responsibilities would be placed on hold was during hog killing. Actually, the best day was the day after the killing in which we processed all the meat. Sausage was ground and hand packed into long, narrow sausage bags made out of cloth from flour sacks. Hams were cured in the smoke house under layers of salt. My uncle never failed to take a few pig heads with him to make hog jowl and my mother always snuck a few of the brains into the eggs the next morning. My father loved the chitlins. Others would take a few hog feet with them, leaving me to believe the old country expression, "We ate everything except the squeal!"
After spending the morning trimming fat off the meat, one of my favorite activities would follow--cooking out the lard. A fire was built under a large black kettle in order to cook down the fat. Then we would skim the cracklings using two oar shaped pieces of wood joined by a cloth. Unlike the potato-chip version of cracklings sold in stores today, these were filled with, well, lard! They were delicious, but stopping before your stomach began to ache was a challenge! If you listened to everything Granny said, the stand of lard was pure white. It was a moment of satisfaction. At the end of the day we would have enough bacon, sausage, lard, ham, tenderloins, and memories for a year.
What has just been described has probably never been done by most of our readers who are younger than forty, even if you grew up on a farm. It isn't bad, it is just a fact. Most would not know how to scald a pig, cure a ham, pack sausage, or cook out lard. Why? The previous generation who did this every year for survival, stopped practicing it.
For most farming families this agricultural process is lost through one generation. Consider this: all things that we do and believe, for the most part, are just one generation from extinction.
Moses lead the children of Israel out of slavery. They saw the power of their God through the ten plagues, the parting of the sea, and provision of manna. As Joshua led the conquest, they watched God give them cities through falling walls and enemy soldiers dying at their hands. They believed in the Holy One of Israel but failed to point their children in His ways. When Joshua and his people died, a sad reality remained.
"When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel... and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers " ( Judges 2:10, 12).
Some things are too important to not pass down. Let's be intentional. And by the way, Happy Grandparents Day on Sunday. And remember your responsibility, we are only one generation away from apostasy!
Light the fire and pass it on!

• Godly Wisdom in Country Expressions -Feb 22, 2004