| Behind the grape vines the mountain continued straight up. The field behind the house was cleared of all trees and was used to graze cows, mules and horses over a period of many years. At the end of the field the forest continued up high into the sky as far as the eye could see. This was how the mountains appeared in all the valleys in Dizney. To us little folks the mountains went all the way to the sky. Tilman would pick the large purple grapes for Leona to make grape jelly. The skin and seeds of the grapes would be removed. The grapes would then be mashed like potatoes. Water, sugar and pectin would be placed into a pot and put on the stove to boil. At the proper consistency Leona would pour the mixture into steralized glass jars. The lids would be screwed into the jars as tight as possible and placed on the kitchen table. As the jelly in the jars cooled you would hear a poping sound from the jars signaling that they had sealed. The jars would be carried out of the house and around to the front where there was a door to the block basement. The jars would be put on shelves until they were needed. When a jar of her grape jelly was opened up, it had such a wonderful taste that a jar of store made grape jelly has never in my life compared to Mamow's grape jelly. Mamaw was a talented baker as well. She could stir up the best tasting cornbread and biscuits ever. She taught mom how to make cornbreat and bisquits. Apples and pears were planted in the hills of Stretchneck holler by Tilman's father and uncles. The uncles were great nurserymen. They could take a branch from two different kinds of apple trees and grow a complete new variety. Pears were picked in the fall. Newspaper or paper bags from the store were used to wrap the pears. The pears were placed in a dark cool place until they were ripe. Those pears were so delicious. Mom and Mamaw also cut up the pears and canned them. Apples were a big staple in our diet. When the apples ripened you would see daddy and Papaw Cloud walking down out of the mountains with big burlap sacks on their backs filled with apples. Everyone in Dizney who wanted apples came up Stretchneck holler on their way to the apple orchards. It was impossible to guard the apple trees so they were shared with everyone. That was the beginning of another big job for mom and Mamaw Cloud. Mamaw and Mom would sit on the enclosed porch in the front of the house facing the dirt road of Stretchneck holler. The porch had a wooden railing about two to three foot with the top part up to the roof screened in to keep the flies, bees and mosquitos out. There was a door on the right end of the porch that led down concrete block steps and a concrete path that lead to the dirt road. Mom and Mamaw would have aprons on and sitting in cane bottom chairs with a large aluminum bowl in their laps. The bowl would be full of apples. They would peal, core and slice up the apples and put them on the stove to start cooking. They would continue the same process all day long. Mamaw loved apples and ate quite a few as she was peeling them. The apples were washed, pealed and cooked on the coal and wood kitchen stove at Mamaw's house. The apples were cooked until they turned soft and thick. They were spiced and sweetened while they were cooking and turned a golden brown color. The cooked apples were eaten for breakfast with bisquits or toast. The cooked apples were then put into steralized canning jars and sealed. Leona was known far and wide for her applectacked cake. The only spice she had during the 30sa and 40s was cinnamin. The cake was a spice cake and cinnamin was also used in the applesauce. As the apples were cooking the water in the apples would evaporate and leave a thick consistency. The cake dough was made in the same manner as her bisquits. The dough needed to be firm enough to pinch a part off and roll it into a small ball. The dough would be pressed down into the bottom of a cast iron skillet. The baked cake layer would be very thin. Each layer would be layed onto a piece of cloth on the table to cool. The applesauce would be set aside to cool also. There usually was about ten or more cake layers baked. A layer of applesauce, about the thickness of the cake layers would go between each layer. The top layer did not have anything on top of it. The cake would be covered with a cloth and let sit on the table for two to three days. As each day passed the cake absorbed the moisture of the applesauce. The layers became moist with the flavor of the applesauce. The layers of the cake were cut into very thin pieces because the cake was so tall. There were a lot of wild berries that grew near the creek banks such as blackberries, raspberries and strawberries. Rubarb was a fruit that grew in Leona's yard. She had planted it there herself. All she had to do was walk out the front door and cut some stalks off and make her famous rubarb cobbler. The other berries were used for coblers and for jams. Strawberry jam was especially delicious. I wanted to bake Mamow's applesauce stack cake for my husband's family and my girls. However, no body ever wrote down the recipe. While reading through hundreds of so called applesauce stack cakes, I discovered where the cake was an old pioneer wedding cake. Pioneer families would travel miles to attend the weddings of friends and family. Ingrediants for the cake dough were in short supply so each guest would bake a cake layer and bring it to the wedding. Someone would cook up the apples and the cake would be assembled at the wedding. In the fall of 1960 my father went to Louisville, Kentucky looking for work. He found a job and we moved a few months later. Mamaw Cloud was heartbroken that we had moved. She must have been so lonely after we left. We did not think about how lonely they would be. We were too excited about being in a city for the first time. We had a culture shock for sure. We had to get used to new schools and friends. Mamaw Cloud wrote a letter to mom and she read it to us and we felt so bad at being so thoughtless and not even writing to them after we moved. I took the Greyhound bus back to Harlan County, Kentucky each summer for the next four or so years and stayed with Mamaw and Papaw Cloud. Mamaw Cloud had a stroke in 1988 and died within a few days in the Harlan Hospital |