S is for Scarecrow

Rosenberg Mamaw (what we all called Daddy’s mother) was a remarkable woman.  She made almost everything we needed on the farm, from food to remedies to soap to scarecrows.  She always kept busy and whenever we needed something, she used whatever we had on hand.

When the corn started getting tall and ears would come on, we had many crows that would make the rounds from farm to farm to feed off the corn.  Something was in order to keep them away because we ate the corn, as well as kept a good portion of it for the cows.

Our grandparents threw very little away.  Mamaw always kept Papaw’s worn out shirts and pants to make scarecrows for the corn patch.  I also suspect she pulled stuff out of this box of goods when it was time for Halloween.

Armed with an old broomstick or handle to serve as a stake, a stack of clothes over her arm, she’d head for the bran in search of loose hay.  It wasn’t long and she had several scarecrows made that she would place strategically around the field.

We played hide and seek in the corn patch just before harvest season.  The rows were so tall and thick and the field so vast that it was an excellent place to hide.  We could hear the caw from the dozens of crows that circled the area as we giggled and scrambled through the corn.  All these decoys made hide and seek even better.