The fall of the year always brings back memories of my childhood and being at my grandmother’s house in Montgomery County -- the house with the barn that sat straddled on the county lines of Attala and Montgomery.
Every season was enjoyable at their house, and I suppose if I chose a favorite, it would be springtime when we planted her vegetable and flower gardens. Fall would be a close second, because I truly have so many memories of this time of the year with her.
This is the season we always made her new broom straw brooms. The broom straw was just right for gathering and my granddaddy would go out into the pastures and gather heaps of the feathery weed and load into his wooden wheelbarrow. He would bring it to the front porch and my grandmother and I would bundle the straw to make about a three inch “handle” and tie it with strong burlap string or yarn.
Then we would have to beat or strike the bundles against a structure, tree, or fence post to remove the downy, fluffy, and soft foliage on the bushy ends so as to not leave these remains on the floors being swept with the little broom. I was actually saddened when she bought her first real manufactured broom from the old yellow rolling store. I have one of the broom straw brooms resting beside my fireplaces today.
Another memory of fall is that of sitting with my grandmother on the front porch, the water bucket and community dipper at one end and the straight back chairs lining the back wall, and cutting and stripping the peel from sugar cane and chewing the sweet treat. My grandparents did not raise this crop, but they always bought several bundles for all of us grandchildren, all thirteen of us.
There was a man that lived several miles from there that did grow the crop of sugar cane, and he had a molasses mill that he made this sweet biscuit covering delicacy in which I loved to slather my grandmother’s homemade biscuits. My mother and daddy would always take us to the molasses mill during harvest time and let us watch the process.
I was just surprised at how this sugary syrupy molasses was made with the juice being squeezed from the sugar cane by a contraption pulled by a big mule. There were two extracts made from the cane sugar--sorghum and plain cane syrup. I was always partial to the sorghum, even though it had a more robust taste. You surely don’t see much sugar cane being sold today and I surely wish I had some for my grandsons to chew and taste.
So many of the old time customs have been discontinued as “new fangled” automation has taken over the manufacturing and multimillion dollar sales of these two things I remember from my early years. I feel sad as I know my grandsons and their sons and daughters will never know the thrill of making broom straw brooms, chewing sugar cane or the old way of making molasses.
This is a recipe for my grandmother’s homemade biscuits. I had to really encourage her to write down the measurements she used, as she had these in her head and jut made them almost through automation. As I said, these are really good “slathered” in fresh cane syrup.
Biscuits
3 1/2 cups self rising flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/4 teaspoons sugar
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup butter cut into small pieces
l l/2 cups buttermilk
1 cup self-rising flour
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine first three ingredients and cut in shortening and chilled butter with a pastry blender, (she used her fingers) until crumbly. Add buttermilk just until ingredients come together, may need to add a little more flour if too sticky. Turn out onto a self rising floured board and cut out with a biscuit cutter. Again she just pinched off the amount she needed and rolled in her hands. To fancy them up for a dinner meal, just add a cup of shredded cheddar cheese.
